Once in A Blue Moon
by The Fairy-est Fairy-Type
Summary: Stories of one's own ancenstry is something many enjoy to hear. When a Lucario's son inquires about his own, it brings up many bittersweet memories. Will he be able to depart upon his son this retelling of a less than bright section of his past?
1. Chapter 1

_This story was not made to be a story. It was made to be an homage to PKMN Amino user Dragonseeker17 (unable to include link because FFN is a place of sound illogic)_ _. In the short time I have known her and through what few conversations we've had, she's helped me out more than I could ever explain multiple times. Because of her, I feel better about myself than I have in a very, very long time. From being there to talk to to simply doing what she does best—which is art—she's lifted so much weight off my shoulders and blessed me with all new feelings of surreal joy that I've never felt before. And since she's drawing fanart of my fanfiction, I'd figured the inverse would be the best way to say thank you._

 _Blue Moon the Lycanroc is property of Dragonseeker17, used in this story with her permission._

* * *

"Dad?"

Lucario's ears twitched, and he hastily lowered the frame he was holding onto a small desk, turning his head to face the door. From around the corner, a young Riolu peeked its tiny head towards where Lucario stood.

"Hm?" Lucario asked.

The Riolu stepped forth. "Me and sis were talking earlier today and she said that master Ryan wasn't the one who named us," he squeaked. "And that sounds weird. Where did she and I get our names from?"

Lucario tilted his head at the question. "Your names?" he repeated.

Riolu sighed as he stepped closer. "Uh, yeah. That's what I asked."

Lucario shook himself out. "Well, your sister is right," he affirmed. "Our master was not the one to name you two. Take it from me—naming his Pokémon are not customs for him."

"So where did we get them?" Riolu pressed.

Lucario chuckled. "Use your head. Who are the only two beings bigger in your life than master Ryan?"

Riolu paused for a second, thinking. Then he answered, "Uhh, the Snorlax down the road, and…"

Lucario scoffed. "I meant metaphorically," he clarified with a good-natured growl.

"Well, you and Mom, I guess. Since, you know, you're my parents and all."

Lucario rolled his eyes. "Good to see it all boils down to the role of existence for you," he teased. "But yes, your mother and I were the ones to name you."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Huh." Riolu was silent for a moment. Then he asked, "So where'd you get the names?"

Lucario blinked. "Hm?"

"Where'd you get our names?"

"Oh. Well, that's a simple question. Your mother was the one to give Joy her name. She hoped and still hopes for Joy to be a Sylveon like her, and said Pokémon has a reputation of spreading just that: joy. And thus your sister was named.

Riolu listened attentively, and when his father finished, he asked, "What about me?"

"Ah." Lucario gave a warm smile, but Riolu saw a strange foggy look form in his eyes. "Your name… I didn't want to brand you with an expectation like Sylveon had to Joy. I wanted your name to fit you. Everyone should be the best they can be. And when it comes to someone with as much potential as a little squirt like you, a name of equal power should fit."

The Lucario knelt down and laid a paw on his son's shoulder. His gaze grew somber as he met Riolu's, and the little pup felt a slight intimidation.

"It was for these reasons that I chose to name you after the bravest, most compassionate, determined, wonderful person I've ever known," Lucario said solemnly. "In the belief that you, too, can grow up to be just that person."

"Really?" Riolu breathed. Lucario nodded.

"So what was so great about 'em?"

"About who?"

"What was so great about Blue Moon that you named me after them?"

The Lucario opened his mouth to respond, but his attention was grabbed when a voice somewhere in a different part of the house called out, "Alright, everyone, time for bed!"

Lucario's gaze moved back down to face his son. Looking at the pup's hopeful expression, he smiled. "Maybe tomorrow, son," he said apologetically as he stood up.

Blue Moon's expression turned to disappointment. "C'mon!" he pouted. "You were finally getting to the good part!"

"We can get to it tomorrow," Lucario reassured him.

"But I want to hear it now!" Blue Moon protested. "Come on! At least tell me what kind of Pokémon he was!"

"Of course," Lucario relented with a chuckle. "He was a Lycanroc."

"A Lycanroc?" Blue Moon Junior asked, perplexed. "What the heck?"

Lucario blinked at his son's odd response. "What is so odd about a Lycanroc?"

"Nothing. It's just…" Blue Moon squinted awkwardly. "Did you… raise him yourself, or… what?"

"Raise him myself?" Lucario repeated. Now it was his turn to be confounded. "What are you talking about?"

"Master Ryan said that Lycanroc are super loyal to the ones who raised them right," the Riolu yipped. "Didn't say anything about anyone else."

Lucario shook his head. "My boy, your sister Joy did not raise you. Are you not loyal to her?"

"Well, yeah, I guess you could call it loyalty," Blue Moon conceded. "What's your point?"

"My point is, you can be loyal to whomever you so choose," Lucario replied. "It does not matter who reared you. If you see something in someone, anyone, you have all the free will in the world to choose to trust them and be their companion. Your namesake was no different. He chose to give loyalty and trust to those who needed it. Not those who he was decreed to give it to."

"Did you ever need his loyalty?"

"Once I did." Lucario's voice grew a bit heavier. "Sometimes I still do."

"And he gave it to you?"

"He offered it, and I took it. See, son, I was in a… much darker place than I am now. Blue Moon, he…" Lucario trailed off. A pained light glimmered in his eyes.

"What did he do?" Blue Moon pressed.

Lucario once more snapped back to reality. "Enough questions, boy," he said. "Time for you to go to bed."

"But—" Riolu griped, but stopped at the stern look his father gave him. "Fine," he relented grouchily, turning tail and trudging out of the room.

Lucario watched him go, shoulders hunched. Turning back round, he picked up the framed picture again and inspected it forlornly. Within the frame was not a portrait or painting, but a simple white piece of paper. On that paper, the words "Everyone's demons are personal, but that doesn't mean we should fight them alone" were neatly written in dark blue ink.

"You said it, old friend," Lucario sighed with a sad smile. A small glow caused the canine to look towards a nearby window. The light was caused by the moon coming out from behind a cloud. A full moon, Lucario noted. The second one this month.

A blue moon.

He looked back towards the quote. His grip tightened as his paw clenched.

"You promised, Blue," he whispered, voice dry. "You promised."

"Lucario, honey?" A voice caught his ear. Before he could turn, he felt the soft touch of some kind of ribbon against his side.

He knew that feeling. Turning around, he looked downwards and saw a Sylveon looking at him curiously.

"Joy and Blue Moon are already in bed, dear," she stated. "Are you coming?"

Lucario's gaze flicked to the framed paper in his paw. "Uh… yeah," he mumbled, laying it back down on the desk on which it had been. "I just… I just needed a moment is all."

Sylveon's gaze drifted towards the frame and her gaze grew saddened. "You really miss him, don't you?" she murmured.

Lucario drew in a shaky breath. "He was the best… the second best thing to ever happen to me, Sylveon," he whimpered.

"It's okay, honey. You don't have to lie," Sylveon reassured him. "I know how much he means to you. You don't have to cover it up for me. You're not unfaithful."

"I-I'm sorry. I just—"

Sylveon reached up and touched his paw. "No, it's okay, really," she insisted. "I didn't save you like he did. I understand."

Lucario reminded silent. There was nothing he wanted to say. Not to Sylveon, at least.

"Come on," Sylveon encouraged, tugging at him slightly. "It's getting late. We should go to bed."

Lucario followed her silently, keeping his eyes downcast. As they stepped out of the room, Lucario stopped in the doorway. His head turned to forlornly face the frame one last time before his paw flipped the light switch, sending the room into total darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

"He wants to know," Lucario muttered as he trudged down the hallway to where he normally slept.

"What?" Sylveon asked.

"Our son," Lucario clarified. "He wants to know the story of Blue Moon."

"... Does he now?"

"He does." Lucario stopped and looked down at his beloved, who stopped as well. "And I… I said I would tell it."

"Good. I think it'd be a good story for him to hear."

"I do too."

"When are you going to share it with him?"

"I will start it tomorrow."

"Oh?" Sylveon blinked. She looked down at the floor for a second, her face troubled. After a brief silence she asked, "... What will you tell him?"

"Everything," Lucario muttered darkly. "Every. Single. Thing."

Sylveon looked concerned. "Honey, I don't think that's a good idea," she said.

"Why?" Lucario retorted, a little too quickly.

"Well, it's just that some of the things you said and did back then—some of the experiences you claim at having—they're-" Sylveon hesitated "-questionable. Some of these things may be better off unheard by our kids."

"He wants a story," Lucario answered stiffly, "he gets a story."

"But he's just a boy," Sylveon protested. "And you're his father. He looks up to you so much. Wouldn't you rather he—"

"He'd do well to remember that nobody is invincible," Lucario interrupted.

"If you say so," Sylveon muttered, though she looked unconvinced. Maybe she just didn't want to argue this late into the night. Lucario let out a gruff "Hmph."

They closed the last of the distance to the door at the end of the hall. Lucario turned the doorknob and opened up to a modest room with one bed and a nightstand. Crowded on and around the bed was a young man and three Pokémon: A Delphox, a Zangoose, and a Seviper all sat at the foot of said bed. The Delphox was locked in conversation with the Seviper, who was laxly coiled around the abdomen of the Zangoose, leaving only his arms free.

"Hey," Sylveon interjected, causing the trio to turn towards her. "Sorry for holding you up."

The Zangoose shrugged. "I'm not tired," he replied.

The Seviper chuckled. "You'd think I would sleep more than I do, being named after a lullaby and all," she quipped. "Turns out, I'm not the one that gets put to sleep—it's my prey." She hissed in mock aggression at the Zangoose, who visibly flinched. She laughed and said, "Come on, Cloudtail, I'm the one who got you onto this dream team. I'd never hurt you!"

"I know, I know," the Zangoose replied. "It's just… genetics and all. You know?"

The Seviper nodded, her mirth fading. "Yeah, I feel you."

"And that's not my name, by the way. It's Zangoose."

She giggled. "I know. But it reflects you well."

"I guess."

"So, Delphox," Sylveon said, turning to the pyrokinetic, "What were you guys talking about?"

"Nothing much," Delphox replied lightly. "Bayushki and I were just killing time before sleep." The Seviper nodded in affirmation.

"Do we have anything planned for tomorrow?" Sylveon asked.

The three friends shared a look between themselves. Delphox turned and answered, "Not that we know of. Why?"

"Lucario wants some free time tomorrow." Flashing said canine her own look, Sylveon added, "He's going to tell Blue Moon the story of his namesake."

Both Delphox and Bayushki's eyes widened. Zangoose tilted his head.

"Really?" Bayushki asked, surprised. Sylveon nodded.

"He asked, so he's going to tell him," she stated. Looking around the room, she inquired, "Where are the kids, anyway? They were here when I went to get their father."

"They're in their Pokéballs," Delphox said. "Master Ryan put them away."

Sylveon giggled. "They must be upset."

Delphox returned the mirthful reaction. "You're serious, though?" he asked, turning to Lucario with eyebrows raised in curiosity. "You're really going to tell him?"

Lucario nodded solemnly. "Yes," was all he said.

"Uh, what are you guys talking about?" Zangoose piped up.

Bayushki spoke first. "It was before you were with us," she explained. "Blue Moon was…" she trailed off, looking worriedly over at Lucario. "He was, uh—"

"He was a… powerful presence in Lucario's life," Delphox answered for her. "Lucario elected to name his son after him. I suppose Blue Moon Junior wants to know why."

"I see," Zangoose replied, not saying anything more.

Delphox turned to face Lucario. "Won't that stir up some bad memories?" he asked.

"Not bad," Lucario said. "Bittersweet."

"Well, good luck, I guess," Delphox murmured. Bayushki nodded softly.

Lucario said nothing. He looked towards the young human man sitting on the bed, watching the quintet curiously.

"Master Ryan?" he called out. The human looked towards him. Seeing Lucario's eyes meet his, the human said, "Oh, what's up, Lucario?"

Lucario pointed towards the Pokéballs on Ryan's nightstand, knowing Ryan couldn't actually understand his words.

"Huh? Oh. Sure!" Ryan grabbed a Great Ball and held it out towards Lucario. A red light beamed towards him, enveloping him into its form and dematerializing him, drawing him into the space inside.

His vision reactivated to the sight of a small room decorated with furnishings and luxuries: a bed, an armchair, and a bookshelf, all lined with dust, were the first things to greet Lucario's eyes. Everything gave off a simple, comely feeling like that of a small cottage in the woods. Behind Lucario rested a medium-sized table with two out-of-place objects on it: A modest television, and a small black PDA.

The hardwood floor creaked beneath his paws as he reached towards the dusty bookshelf. His paw found the spine of an odd-looking book: Whereas the others were colored with soft hues and looked old and worn, this one bore a grey sheen and felt stiff to the touch, almost as if it were made of steel. Pulling the book out from the shelf, he opened the front cover. Printed on the inside cover was a series of words.

"Page 20 for traditional," it read. "Page 40 for training. Page 60 for environmental. Page 80 for self-designed."

Lucario flipped through the thin book. The pages were clean, white, and blank as he thumbed through them until he hit the eightieth page, where simple black text read, "Close for self-designed environment."

Lucario shut the steel book, and at once, everything within the small room faded away with the exception of the controller in his paws. He waited patiently, floating about in the thick, heavy silence. Slowly, the world rematerialized around him: A forest clearing, surrounded by trees and overlooking a wooded valley. He could see a path cutting into the large hill he stood atop, but he knew the path led to nowhere. The chirping and humming of forest life that didn't exist pierced the night sky.

Lucario sat down, laying the steel book beside him. The dirt felt just a bit sodden beneath him, the grass soft. The blue dog lowered his head and closed his eyes. This was where he liked to be. Alone in the woods, surrounded by a static ambience that stayed well away from his inner thoughts. Nothing to bug him. Nothing to pull him away from what he wanted to focus on.

Nothing to force him to think about what he didn't want to. And he was thankful, as right now, he wanted to think about Blue Moon.

There were so many things he'd have to tell his son. The story was long and winding and couldn't make sense without being told in full. But his son needed to hear. It would be good for him, Lucario was sure of it. There were a number of things to be said.

Many of which possibly should not be said.

Sylveon's words echoed in his mind: "Some of the experiences you claim at having—they're questionable. Some of these things may be better off unheard by our kids."

Lucario had brushed her off at first, but as he pondered her words, he felt his resolve shake a bit. The details weren't pretty; they could easily have negative effects on his child. But then again, wasn't that why Lucario felt so strongly about telling it in full? Children like Blue Moon held many a misguided thought about the way the world worked; some lessons had to be harsh because life itself was.

But how harsh did the lessons have to be? Without a—

Lucario shook his head, growling. No. He wouldn't think about that. He couldn't. He stubbornly turned towards the decisions he'd have to make: What to tell his child, and what to keep hidden.

A stray thought about Joy caught his mind. Should he tell her, too? Did she need to be involved in this?

At least that answer was an easy one. She would do just as well as Blue Moon to learn from it. He would share with them both the story of Blue Moon the Lycanroc.

His mind refocused on the more pressing question of exactly how much he would tell. He let out a frustrated growl. What could he skip? Sometimes it was the little things that meant the most; what if he skipped over too many of them for the sake of his children's naïvety? Moreover, what about the big things? Could he even consider ignoring the less pleasant of them?

Lucario heaved a sigh. He was tired now, and the night would only get longer from here. He didn't have the energy to worry about this. Ruefully, he picked up the steel book once more and opened to page 20.

"Close for traditional environment," the page read. Lucario shut the book tight and the world around him broke away once more, reconstructing itself as the cabin-esque suite he'd initially found himself in. He slid the book back into its place upon the shelf and trudged over to the bed, where he immediately collapsed.

Another sigh escaped his lips, this time one of contentment. If there was one thing these stupid Pokéballs got right, it was designing the perfect little world to pamper its captor in. The blue wolf sank into the soft mattress, feeling the muscles in his tired body letting out cries of joyous relief. He grabbed the bed's comforter and lazily draped it around himself. At once, he was surrounded in a bubble of soft warmth.

Lucario closed his heavy eyes and waited for the void of sleep to take him over. He would worry about the finer details of the story tomorrow. If push came to shove, he could decide what and what not to disclose mid-story. Yes, that seemed a more than reasonable path to take.

He could feel his consciousness slipping. He relaxed even further, ready for sleep to steal it away. And steal it away it did. The canine felt a sudden sensation of falling that jolted him a bit before fading away again. His breathing grew a tad slower and he felt a heavy weight press down all his body. Then, just like that, his mind went dark.

* * *

Lucario was rudely jerked awake by the loud sound of the Pokéball bursting open. Before he could react, he was pulled out of his virtual world and into the real one. His vision greeted him with the sight of the bedroom he had been in before he'd entered his ball. Ryan was standing in front of him and when they locked gazes, the human smiled.

"Morning, Lucario!" Ryan greeted cheerfully. "You sleep well?"

Lucario nodded. "Yes, I did," he replied, though he knew that for some odd reason Ryan would only hear it as the blue dog uttering his own name.

"Nice!" Ryan grinned. "Everyone else is already awake. They're in the living room. Blue Moon seems super excited about something!"

Lucario was immediately reminded of last night. "Yes, I would imagine so," he muttered. "Have they eaten?"

"Uh…" Ryan stammered. "I, uh… four?"

Lucario sighed. He held a paw up to his mouth and mimed spooning food into it.

"Oh. Yeah," Ryan answered, confidently this time. "They ate a while ago. You've been out all morning."

Lucario nodded, quelling the slight dismay he felt at hearing the last sentence. Without saying another word, he turned and pulled open the bedroom door, stepping out into the hallway.

"There's some leftovers that are still out if you want any!" Ryan called after him as he left. Lucario ignored him. He walked briskly down the short hall and found two doors and a large entryway. The door on his right led to the front yard. The door just in front of him was the door to the room he'd been in last night, when Blue Moon asked about his name. To his left, the entryway opened up immediately to a grand, spacious atrium that held the den, the dining area, and the kitchen all in one. On the other side of the atrium sat the door to the house's master bedroom, which for some reason his Trainer never used. "I just got used to tiny bedrooms growing up." was his explanation.

The entire atrium was empty, the dining area clean and completely vacant. Lucario shook his head. How long must have he been out to have missed the morning meal in its entirety?

Choosing not to dwell on the thought, he turned right and opened the door to the outside. If his children weren't eating, then they were probably playing. Closing the door behind him, he stepped out onto a narrow concrete pathway.

He heard nothing. Closing his eyes, he tapped into the sixth sense all Lucario possessed. Several large auras emanated from the backyard: two of joy, two of amusement, and two of… anxiety? Lucario blinked. He could sense the auras were those of his family, but why were Sylveon and Zangoose…

He fought the urge to continue sensing their auras with a growl. Trying not to let his sense overpower him, he began walking around the front of the house and towards the backyard. He had long since grown tired of the ability to read people's thoughts through their emotions, and had been working to suppress it since. Over the years, he'd met other Lucario, and they too felt their sixth sense to be a burden rather than a gift. Being forced to feel the auras of everything within a half mile, unwillingly prying into others' thoughts, finding out things they would rather not know… it was no wonder most other Lucario he'd met were always so stressed out—Sometimes, knowledge was a curse.

He rounded the corner of a wall and was greeted with the whole gang: Blue Moon and Joy were engaged in some kind of play-fight while their mother watched on, a strangely worried look on her face. Much like last night, Delphox and Bayushki were seated on the concrete floor and in some sort of conversation. Zangoose sat next to Bayushki, occasionally sneaking an odd glance at her from time to time. Nobody had yet noticed the new arrival.

"I'm, er… I'm sorry I'm late," Lucario called to the group. Six heads turned to face him.

"Dad!" Blue Moon untangled himself from his play-fight with Joy. Within seconds, there was a Riolu hopping up and down right in front of Lucario.

"You're awake!" his son yipped. "Are you gonna tell me about Blue Moon now?"

"Of course," Lucario chuckled. It at least brought him some comfort to see that his son was enthusiastic about the whole thing.

"Awesome!" the blue pup exclaimed.

Lucario looked towards his mate and daughter. "And I'd like you two to come with me," he stated.

Joy tilted her head, while Sylveon quickly stood up. "I'd be happy to," she said, while the little Eevee asked, "Why do I need to come?"

"This is a story both of you should hear," Lucario replied.

Joy's ears drooped. "Do I have to?" she whined.

The blue wolf opened his mouth to argue, but his mate did it for him.

"Joy," she said sternly, "the tale your father is going to tell means a lot to him. He's not sharing it with you to entertain you. He's sharing it because it's something you should hear. The least you could do is be respectful and listen. Understood?"

"Your father would not be who he is today without Blue Moon," Delphox supplied. "I assure you it is a story worth hearing."

"But—"

"Joy…" Sylveon warned.

The Eevee frowned as she lowered her head. "Yes, ma'am," she muttered.

"Good." Turning to face Lucario, Sylveon asked, "Should we, you know, go somewhere else?"

Delphox stood up. "Oh, no, the rest of us can just clear out," he offered. Bayushki and Zangoose nodded in agreement.

"We'd appreciate that," Sylveon replied gratefully. "Thank you."

The fire mystic gave a supporting smile as he turned to walk away. "It's nothing." The other two followed suit.

Lucario watched them go, allowing his sixth sense to track them and make sure they were out of earshot. Bayushki's aura had changed to a slight annoyance; Lucario realized she had not wanted to get up and leave her sunny spot. He snickered slightly before Zangoose's aura touched his psyche. It was still just as anxious as before. Lucario felt a slight curiosity at what could be eating away at the cat ferret so, but quickly quelled his desire before Zangoose's aura could open up to reveal his thoughts. By this point, the trio were certainly too far away to overhear his family's voices unless they started shouting to the heavens above. He forcefully shut down his sixth sense and turned to face his children.

"We are alone now," he stated.

Blue Moon nodded furtively. "Does that mean I get to hear the story now?" he begged.

"As much as I can tell today," his father affirmed.

The Riolu's eyes widened. "Just today?" he breathed. "Wow, that's a big story!"

"Sure is," his older sister muttered.

"Whatever," Blue Moon scoffed. Looking at his father, he asked, "So how does it start?"

"Well," Lucario began, "If my mind serves me right, we can trace this all back down to ten years ago, on the day of a pivotal battle."


	3. Chapter 3

"Lucario!"

The canine in question turned to face the sound. Standing a few feet away was a Braixen with its arms folded and a smirk on its face.

"You ready for the big fight?" The fiery fox asked.

Lucario grinned. "Oh, hell yeah!" He replied. "What time is it happening again? In an hour?"

Braixen shook his head. "Some time this afternoon," he corrected, "Over in Anistar City."

Lucario groaned. "Damn. Anistar? That place is frickin' cold."

Braixen chuckled. "I wouldn't know."

"Good one, smartass."

Another chuckle. "I have my moments."

"How are the girls holding up?"

"Haven't talked to Eevee yet," Braixen answered. "But Bayushki's about as hyped as a single Bayushki can be."

"So, in other words, she's moved five feet?"

Braixen tilted his head back and let out a laugh. "Pretty much!"

"Surprising, I know," drawled a voice from behind Braixen. The duo turned to face a Seviper slithering from around the corner, a less than amused look on her face.

"You guys are dicks," she grumbled. "Of course I'm excited for the big battle!"

"Then act like it," Braixen snickered.

Bayushki rolled her eyes. "Got to conserve my energy," she countered. "For obvious reasons. Besides, I've got something else on my mind. Can't focus."

Lucario titled his head. "Like what?" He asked.

"... Nothing much," the snake replied. "Just random stuff. It's just one of those days, I guess. Feel me?

"Well, whatever it is, don't let it get to you in battle, alright?" Braixen encouraged.

Once more with the eyeroll. "Oh, you don't say?"

"I do indeed."

Lucario felt an external tingling sensation. He quickly determined it to be Bayushki's aura. He tried shutting it out, but it was stronger than usual—mostly because it was radiating a small plethora of depressive emotions. Sadness, disappointment, frustration, empathy… grief? Lucario blinked. What could cause all that at this moment?

Before he could stop himself, a single thought of Bayushki's emerged into his brain. All he managed to comprehend before he forcefully shoved it out was an image of a Zangoose.

Lucario's face scrunched up in confusion. A Zangoose? Bayushki was saddened at the thought of a Zangoose? Lucario didn't understand. Why was Zangoose on her mind; moreover, why was it depressing her? Zangoose and Seviper were mortal enemies. For generations upon generations they'd been at each other's throats. Lucario could understand anger, or hatred, or bloodlust, but—sadness? Loss? Regret? Why?

He looked over at her, casually conversing with Braixen. Despite Lucario trying to block it out, her aura told him that the chitchat was helping to alleviate the weight of her heavy thoughts. Fighting back his curiosity, he kept his mouth shut. Maybe he'd ask her about it later, when someone as rambunctious as Braixen wasn't around. For now, though, he'd leave her in peace.

Lucario's eyes casually scanned the house's atrium, looking for something to do. His gaze fell on the sliding back door, which led to an Eevee sitting out on the porch on her own, staring over the grass behind Ryan's house.

Lucario felt an urge to go out and say hi to her, but was hesitant. He knew Eevee well and she wasn't the extroverted type; she liked her alone time. Maybe she wasn't feeling too great about the battle. They weren't really her thing, after all. But still, saying hello couldn't hurt, right?

Lucario made his way over to the backdoor. He would introduce himself, he decided, and if she didn't want to be with others, he'd back off. He grabbed the door handle and pulled it open. The rumbling noise it created caused the Eevee to perk up and look behind her.

"Oh, hey," she said to Lucario before turning away again. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Lucario replied mildly. "Just wanted to see how you were doing is all." He chuckled. "You know, big battle and whatnot."

"Oh, yeah," she replied, not looking behind her. "I'm fine. I'm pretty excited, honestly."

Lucario blinked. "Really? I thought you didn't like battles."

"I don't," Eevee affirmed. "But I've still fought them. And I get stronger with each one. Which is why I'm excited for this one—I've been getting a lot stronger, and if this one goes well, I think I might finally get strong enough to evolve."

"Oh!" Lucario smiled at the realization. "Nice! What do you want to evolve into?"

"Sylveon," replied the evolution fox.

"Sylveon, eh? And why is that?"

"Because Fighting-Types are jerks."

Lucario recoiled. "What the—"

Eevee giggled. "I'm joking, silly!" she teased, this time turning to face him. "Of course that's not why!"

Lucario sighed. "Yeah, I was about to say," he huffed. "So, what's your real reason?"

"Honestly? It's the strongest Eeveelution from what I've heard."

"Okay, and? You don't need strength if you don't like to do battles, right?"

"Well, it's just… I want to be able to have that strength, you know? Just in case."

Lucario shrugged concedingly. "Fair enough."

"Besides," Eevee continued, "There are a lot of dragons in Kalos. Some are good. Most, though, are not. I'll be fine with being a Fairy fighter because Master Ryan's gonna need some help with those bad dragons."

"'Bad dragon'," Lucario repeated. He chuckled. "That sounds kinda goofy."

"I think it sounds nasty."

"Nasty? Why?"

"I dunno." Eevee shrugged. "Just a feeling."

"Huh." Lucario didn't know what else to say, and so elected to say nothing. Eevee turned and faced the plains once more.

After a brief silence, Eevee suddenly asked, "Is it weird at all? You know, being the youngest one of our group but being the only one to be fully evolved?"

Lucario tilted his head, squinting at the odd question. "I mean, I never really gave it much thought," he replied slowly. "But now that you mention it… it is kinda weird, I guess."

A moment of thinking before he continued. "But some of it can't be helped, in a sense. Like Bayushki. She can't evolve. And either way, there isn't a super huge difference in age between you, me, Braixen and Bayushki. You're like, what, three years older than me?"

Eevee nodded. "About three, I think, yeah," she affirmed.

"Yeah. We're still young; if we were all the same Pokémon we'd probably all be on the same stage of evolution anyway."

"Good point," Eevee conceded.

"What about you?" Lucario pressed. "Does it ever bug you out, being the oldest and not having evolved yet?"

"A little, yeah," Eevee admitted.

Lucario came a bit closer to her. "Well, hey," he said, "If this battle goes well, you won't have to worry about that anymore, right?"

"Right."

"There you go. And if it doesn't work out, there's always future battles to be fought."

"Yeah."

Awkwardness caused Lucario to fidget a little bit. It sounded to him like Eevee was done talking. He began to back away. "You sound like you need some space," he commented. "I'll go ahead and go."

Lucario felt a quick surge of energy from Eevee's aura that he wasn't able to block out. "No, it's fine," she replied in an odd tone. "Please, stay awhile."

"Err, okay." Lucario came up and seated himself to her left. "I take it there was something you wanted to discuss?"

"No, not really," Eevee mumbled. "It's just, well… it's good to have company sometimes, you know?"

"Is it now? You didn't strike me as the type."

Eevee chuckled. "Heh, 'type'..." she trailed off as an odd look crossed her face.

Lucario felt curiosity etched with concern gnaw at him. "Eevee, is everything alright?" he asked.

Suddenly, a huge burst of tension sprang from Eevee's aura and forcefully nudged Lucario. He had his answer.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine," Eevee said, the hastiness in her voice betraying her mysterious nervousness almost as well as her aura.

Lucario felt Eevee's mind tugging at his senses. Shoving it away with a sigh, he reached over and placed a paw on Eevee's shoulder.

"Look, Vee, you know how it is with us Lucario and our auras," the blue wolf began. "I literally have to try not to read people's thoughts. And even though I'm forcing myself not to read your mind, I can tell something's on it." He leaned a little closer. "But I'd rather hear it from you, not from your head. So please, tell me what's wrong."

Eevee looked towards him with a dismayed expression. "It's… look, I just…" Lucario could feel the heated embarrassment radiating from her like moonbeams. She lowered her head and sighed. "It's just—it's kind of dumb."

"If something's eating away at you this much, it's not 'dumb'," Lucario pressed. "You can tell me, Vee. Really."

Another heavy sigh. "It's just… you've been such a good friend in the time I've known you," she blurted out. "A-And I really, really appreciate it. Like, more than you could know."

Lucario smiled, leaning a bit closer to her. "Hey, it's nothing. Were you expecting me to be some kind of world-class sleazeball?"

"... Yeah."

Lucario recoiled a bit at the unexpected answer. "What? Why?"

Eevee's ears flattened. "Because you're a Fighting-Type!"

"Okay, and?"

"And I'm a Normal-Type!" Eevee raised her eyes for a split second and Lucario could see that her cheeks were flushed red through her thick brown fur. "You know how it is with Type advantages! The only ones who are more all about it than rival Types are their rival Trainers! You ever been to Kanto? You wouldn't believe how petty the Charizard-Blastoise argument is down there! So when—when I got put into this team and I met you, my heart just… it sank! I-I thought you were gonna… gonna…"

Eevee whimpered. "I-I'm sorry," she muttered, voice wobbly. "I m-m-must seem like such a prejudiced—"

"No," Lucario said forcefully. "You don't. Not in any way."

Eevee's eyes slowly raised, not enough to meet Lucario's but enough for him to study her countenance. Her lips were shaking violently, as was her breath, and her eyes were misty. "I told you it was stupid." Her voice broke on the last word.

"No, Eevee, it isn't," Lucario admonished. "I understand. I absolutely understand. There's no reason to be upset. I completely get where you're coming from."

"I was so resentful and worried and angry and scared and then you didn't even bat an eye at my Type!" Eevee sniffed. "I was p-prepared for the worst and you gave me the best! And it m-m-made me feel like… like… a complete bigot! A loser! A narrow-minded, selfish—"

"Eevee!" Lucario growled. "Look at me!"

Eevee finally locked eyes with her friend. Tears had begun to fall down her face, leaving dark streaks in her fur. Though her lips were pulled back in a snarl, the only noises coming out of her mouth were sobs and whimpers. Lucario nearly winced at the sight. As if the self-disgust and humiliation exploding from her aura wasn't enough of a message; her face conveyed it nearly as loudly. She looked totally miserable. Lucario's pity promptly doubled.

"You're not a bigot," Lucario said with a bit of a growl in his voice. "You're not a loser. You're not biased, or prejudiced, or any other one of those terrible things you just called yourself. You are none of them. Do you hear me?"

"B-but I just went and expected the worst—"

Lucario held a paw up, silencing her. "That you easily could have gotten," he said. "I could have been very different. I could have been your worst nightmare. You had no way of knowing who or what I could have been. You were just being cautious. Nothing more, nothing less."

Eevee didn't reply, only sniffled.

Lucario smiled softly as he inched closer, reached out towards Eevee with both paws and pulled her into an embrace. She nuzzled into him without hesitation. Lucario held her close, feeling her slight trembling and choppy breaths against his chest.

"I don't blame you," Lucario reiterated. "Not at all. I used to be the same way."

"The same way?" Eevee asked. "What do you mean?"

"There was a time when Braixen and I were the only ones on Ryan's team," Lucario explained. "We used to be great friends, but after we got a better knowledge of Types, I kind of started to resent Braixen—well, I guess he was Fennekin back then."

Lucario felt a twinge of shame as he discussed his prior foolishness. "When we were both fully evolved, he was going to have two advantages over me: Fire over Steel and Psychic over Fighting. Knowing this, I started to dislike him. I figured he was going to hold it over my head like some kind of trophy I could never earn. Fennekin, on the other hand, was completely oblivious. He never noticed as I grew more and more distant, more and more hateful and moody and mopey until one day, I just…"

Lucario forced back his embarrassment. "I woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I guess. I was feeling extra grumpy." He chuckled before continuing, "I was all pissy and grouchy and just being a general loser. Now this, Fennekin took note of. He started asking me about it. Hearing his voice, hearing him trying to talk to me when I definitely didn't want to talk to him—I just flipped out. I… I yelled about him and his lousy Types and how it would never stop me from winning and…" Lucario groaned. "Fuck, I said a lot of dumb shit. The more I yelled, the more heated I got until I just couldn't take it and stormed off. Well, back then we lived next to someone who owned three Rapidash, and me being the short little Riolu I was back then, I dashed right under their fence and into their pasture. It freaked the hell out of those horses. And, well, you can probably guess what a Rapidash does to something it sees as a threat."

Eevee gasped. "Were you alright?"

"Well I'm here now, aren't I?"

"... Point taken."

"I did get pretty banged up, though. Ryan and the neighbor managed to pull me to safety before the Rapidash ended up switching my face with my ass. Fennekin was with them too, and he was running his mouth like crazy. And I can actually remember what he said that time."

"What did he say?"

"'Is he going to be alright?'" Lucario parroted. "'Why did he do that? Will he be okay? Why was he so mad at me?' Stuff like that."

The blue canine sighed heavily. "It was then I finally came to my senses about this whole Type thing. I could hear the fear in his voice. He was scared if I would heal, and he was confused as to why I was so pissed at him. He cared about me. He was my family. He would never hold a petty thing like that over me! Never!"

Lucario moved his paw to touch Eevee's cheek. "It was then that I decided: the only time I would ever care about a Pokemon's Type is when I'm fighting them. If not, it's meaningless to me. It says nothing about who they are. Literally nothing. I'll never again believe otherwise.

"But, again, Eevee," Lucario continued as the paw on her face began to stroke her fur, "this was a lesson I had to learn. I wasn't born knowing what I know now. It was taught to me. So I empathize with you, and I hold none of it against you. As long as you've stopped holding that prejudice against me, as far as I'm concerned it never happened."

"I don't hold it against you, Lucario," Eevee declared. "Absolutely not."

A soft grin upturned the corners of Lucario's lips. "Hold what against me?"

Though her eyes were only just starting to dry, Eevee smiled as well.

"Oh, whatever. You know," she giggled.

"Whatever you're talking about, it never happened," Lucario replied playfully.

She giggled again, harder this time. "I, uh, I guess it didn't," the evolution fox sighed.

Lucario looked into her eyes. Even if he hadn't been able to read her aura, he could see the distress and guilt fading from her face to be replaced by relief and contentedness. She leaned in to nuzzle his chest, and he happily took it as an invitation to hug her tight once more.

"You're so sweet," Lucario chuckled.

"You're the sweet one," Eevee muttered into his chest fur.

"Awww, I'm flattered." Lucario nuzzled her head.

After several moments, Eevee finally broke away from him. Shaking herself out and locking eyes with him, she said, "So, uh, let's talk about something else."

Lucario shrugged. "Alright."

"Do you know when the battle's going down?"

"In a few hours or so, according to Braixen. Or at least, some time this afternoon."

"Where is it happening?"

"Anistar City."

"Really? That's a little far away… and a little cold."

"You're telling me!"

"What's that mean?"

"It means your fur is thicker than a Slowbro's skull! Mine is totally form over function!"

Eevee rolled her eyes. "Can't fight that," she huffed.

Lucario laughed. "Sure can't!"

The two perked at the sound of the door opening behind them. Turning around, they were greeted with a Braixen standing in the doorframe.

The fire fox smirked. "Oh, sorry, did I interrupt anything?" he asked teasingly.

Lucario scoffed, while Eevee said, "No, what do you want?"

Braixen flicked his head behind him. "Master Ryan wants us to head to the battle place now," he stated.

Lucario blinked. "Right now?" he asked. "Anistar's far, but it's not that far, is it? We're only just south of Couriway Town."

"Guess he wants to be extra punctual," Braixen replied, shrugging.

Lucario returned the shrug. "Guess so," he conceded.

Braixen nodded before backing up into the house. "You guys ready to go? Bayushki and Master are already at the front door."

Lucario looked down at Eevee. She nodded. Looking back to Braixen, the aura wolf relayed the nod to him. "Yeah, we're ready," he confirmed.

Braixen nodded as well. "Alright. Let's get going!" He stepped aside from the doorway, prompting the duo outside to step past him. Closing the door, Braixen quickly caught up to them as they cut through the house and to the front door, where Ryan and Bayushki stood waiting.

"There you guys are!" Ryan exclaimed, waving them over with a set of keys in his hand. "You ready to go?"

Lucario nodded.

"Awesome! Let's do this thing!" Ryan grabbed the doorknob and swung the door open, stepping aside to let his Pokémon pass. The quartet did so accordingly and Ryan closed the door behind them, using one of the keys he held to lock it tight.

"Be right back," he told his team. "Gotta go around back and lock the other door." He hastily walked past them and towards the right of the house. The four watched their Trainer until he disappeared around a corner.

"Thank Arceus he remembered, right?" Braixen joked. "It's not like we could have reminded him."

"I mean, we could," Bayushki deadpanned. "Just not with words."

"Oh, ya don't bloody say?!" Braixen asked in mock amazement. "What's next, water is wet?"

"Well, technically—"

"Don't you DARE start with that 'water's not wet' nonsense."

"... Technically it's not."

"Technically my name is Mozira but you don't see me going by anything other than Braixen."

"That's your choice. Water can't choose its properties."

"You can choose to eat my—"

"I wonder what Master Ryan hears us say?" Eevee suddenly interrupted. "I mean, he obviously can't understand us. But it's not like he can't hear us."

"Oh, I know that one," Lucario supplied. "He hears us saying our names over and over. Or parts of them, depending on how long the sentence is."

The three of them looked befuddled. "How do you know that?" Eevee asked.

"Auras," Lucario reminded her. "Back when I had no control over them, I could tell Master Ryan's thoughts. And his thoughts when I talked to him were sometimes about how he could only hear me say 'Ri' or 'Riolu'. Then I overheard a conversation between him and Braixen—Fennekin then—and I could tell all he heard was 'Fen, Fen, Fennekin.' coming out of his mouth."

The three of them looked dumbfounded. "Our… our own names?" Braixen repeated. "The hell?"

Lucario nodded. "I know, right? How does it work? Do they just name our species based on what we say? Nope, that can't be it."

"What else could it be?" Bayushki asked.

"I thought that was how it worked as well," Lucario said. "But as I traveled with Master Ryan, I found out certain Pokemon aren't interpreted by humans as saying their own names. Master Ryan was having a conversation with a friend of his, and his friend's Staryu said a thing to me. Well, Master Ryan and his friend didn't perceive that Staryu's words as her saying 'Staryu'. They perceived it as some kind of garbled 'hiya!' kind of noise."

"What in the name of… then how did we—"

"Beats me," Lucario answered before the Seviper could finish. "Ask Arceus. He's the one who made this wicked world."

Seviper didn't reply, leaving the four of them in silence. Suddenly, Braixen chuckled. "I wonder, though," he mused, "If they ever piece words from us screaming our names and, like, it sounds like a reasonable response."

Lucario tilted his head. "Huh?"

"Well, imagine this," Braixen began. "Master Ryan comes up and he's like, 'Hey, Lucario, my friend learned got her driver's license and she's eating at Ristorante de Okay to celebrate. You want to walk down there, or you want to have her pick us up and take us by car?'"

Braixen snickered. "And your response is, 'Carrrr!'"

Lucario snorted as Braixen burst out laughing. "That was the worst damn buildup to the worst damn punchline," he scoffed.

Braixen continued to hoot at his own pun. Turning to Eevee, he asked through his laughter, "Hey, Eevee, what's the fifth letter of the alphabet?"

"E?" Eevee replied, clearly perplexed.

"And the twenty-second?"

Eevee paused, thinking for a bit. "V?"

"Guess you could call it E-V!"

At once, Eevee groaned and rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut the hell up!"

"What are you guys laughing about?" Ryan called, causing the quartet to face him.

"I'd tell you, but, well, I can't," Lucario deadpanned, looking over at the wheezing Braixen with an annoyed expression.

Ryan nodded, a look of fake understanding on his face. "Ah, I get it. Four."

"That's been your response to everything I say and it's going to be several years from now," Lucario huffed. "It's never correct."

Ryan nodded again. "Yeah, four," he insisted.

Lucario rolled his eyes. "Let's just go," he muttered, pushing past the dying fire fox and walking towards the small dirt road by his Trainer's house that lead to Route 18. The four other quickly began to walk after him before Ryan took the lead.

"I'm the shot-caller here, buddy," Lucario's Trainer reminded him playfully.

Lucario nodded submissively, falling into line with his three teammates. He was happy Ryan kept his Pokemon out of their Pokeballs whenever possible; the interiors were ludicrously luxurious, but even still the blue canine would be very surprised if any Pokemon actually preferred captivity to freedom.

"Trying to play leader now?" Braixen chuckled as Lucario slowed to match his pace.

Lucario shrugged and replied, "I was just trying to get going. I wouldn't call myself a 'leader' at all."

"I would," Braixen said.

:Lucario blinked, caught off guard by the response. "What?"

"Yeah, dude," Braixen insisted earnestly. "On the for real? You'd lead us great."

"Uh, thanks," Lucario muttered.

From their left, Bayushki piped up, "He's not wrong. You're a solid guy, Lucario. If you and Ryan swapped places, I'd totally be down."

Lucario scoffed dismissively. "Probably because we'd interact less than we do now," he joked.

"C'mon, you know that's a minus," the Seviper protested.

"Is it, though?"

"Absolutely."

"... Well, thanks, I guess. Maybe if we're out on our own I might take charge," he added humorously.

"Again, I'd totally be fine with that."

"Me too," Eevee supplied from his right.

Lucario didn't reply. He couldn't figure out what to say. He was still taken aback by Braixen's sudden earnesty. It was so… so… out of nowhere. What had prompted him to suddenly be so heartfelt? It didn't suit him.

Sneaking a glance at him, Lucario studied Braixen's face. It was aimed straight ahead, completely neutral. Lucario shrugged and turned his eyes back to his Trainer. Maybe Braixen just decided a little niceness couldn't hurt. If so, he wasn't wrong. Lucario felt a subtle warmth from the reassurance his friends respected and trusted him like that. It felt good. Really good. He liked being a positive force in others' lives.

Lucario turned his mind away from the sudden odd behavior and towards the upcoming battle. He felt a little thrill of excitement as it crossed his mind. Which Pokémon would he fight this time? Who would win? Who would be a challenge and who would he pound into the ground? Would Eevee evolve into Sylveon like she wanted?

Lucario fought down the rising anticipation. It would happen soon; it wouldn't kill him to be patient a little longer. Besides, they were going to arrive early—he might have time to wander Anistar and do whatever he so pleased. He would like that a lot.

Ryan turned right down a large dirt pathway, prompting his gang to follow suit. In the distance, Lucario could make out the unmistakable silhouette of Couriway Town. That thrill of excitement trilled in his stomach once more, and once more he fought to quell it.

[i]Next stop, Anistar City.[/i]


	4. Chapter 4

"There it is!" Lucario heard Ryan shout. He looked up from the synthetic bed upon which he lay, a black PDA in his paws that showed a screen of a text conversation between him and Braixen. He sat up, placing the PDA on the bed. Ryan's team had had to go in their Poké-balls while Ryan traversed the snow-smothered Route 17. It sounded like he had finally found the entrance to Anistar City, however, which meant his Pokémon could come out of their Poké-balls.

Sure enough, Lucario was engulfed in a bright white light before the real world materialized around him—still a bright white thanks to all the reflective snow. Braixen was already outside and it wasn't long before Eevee and Bayushki were with them as well.

"We're almost there, guys," Ryan stated encouragingly. "You ready?" Everyone nodded in confirmation. "Alright. Let's go, then!"

"Good luck in that place," called a deep, booming voice from behind them. It was the Mamoswine that Lucario's Trainer had ridden to traverse the terrible snow. "It's an odd little world, that Anistar."

"Thanks," Bayushki replied. "We'll keep an eye out."

Ryan turned to face the Mamoswine. "Oh. Almost forgot," he said. Reaching into his bag, he fumbled around for a bit before his hand found a small tied pouch. Untying it, the human poured its contents into the snow in front of Mamoswine, revealing itself to be a small bunch of various berries.

"Oh, why thank you!" Mamoswine rumbled gratefully. Squinting, he muttered, "Blast these terrible eyes… how many berries is that?"

"Four," Ryan said.

Mamoswine gasped. His head snapped up to the Trainer, his eyes wide. "Y-you can understand me?" he asked.

"That's just his universal answer to everything a Pokémon tells him," Lucario interjected with a grin. "There's actually seven—I can see them from here."

Mamoswine relaxed. "Ah, I see." He chuckled. "Four, you say? His response to everything?"

Lucario nodded, while Braixen supplied, "You could ask him how old Xerneas is and he'd say four." The fire fox shrugged. "Guess he just really likes that number."

"What a strange little boy," Mamoswine mused. "'Four'..."

Their conversation was cut short by Ryan calling out from the Anistar City gate, "Come on, guys! Let's go!" The girls were already with him, waiting by the entrance.

Lucario hastily began to walk towards them. "Thanks for the lift," he called to Mamoswine.

The great beast smiled. "It's nothing," He rumbled. "You take care, now."

"We will!" the blue wolf replied before turning to face the waiting trio.

Without another word, their Trainer turned and led them into Anistar City. Into the tunnel they went, waving hello to the gatekeeper and emerging to the sight of Kalos's most ethereal city.

"Holy—!" Bayushki marveled. "This place is huge!"

It occurred to Lucario that the Seviper had never been to Anistar before. "It is nice, isn't it?" he agreed.

"It's super pretty!" Bayushki affirmed. "Like, really—" Lucario noticed her eyes lock onto something in the distance. "By Arceus, what is that?" she gasped.

Lucario followed her gaze and nodded. She had been staring at the city's main attraction, the giant crystal sundial looking over the urban sprawl. "Yeah, that thing's story eludes even those super smart humans. What's the word, 'scientists'?"

"I think so, yeah, Bayushki mumbled absent-mindedly.

Lucario smiled to himself. He too had been transfixed by the sundial on his first venture to Anistar. It was simply enigmatic: Its size, its brilliance, its foggy history, its perfect symmetry… what was it? Where did it come from? How did it come to be so pristinely sculpted? Lucario didn't know, nor did he believe anyone in the world did. It truly was a sight to behold and a mystery to ponder.

Ryan checked his watch. "Eleven A.M… We got about ninety minutes, guys," he noted. "The gate's about twenty from the Pokécenter. You want to just head straight there, or would you rather do something else?"

"Pokécenter," said everyone but Bayushki. "Let's go to the sundial," Bayushki replied.

"I've seen the sundial way too much," Braixen countered. "It's boring as hell now!"

"Well, I've never seen it before," Bayushki countered. "And I would like to."

"It's not that cool," Braixen grumbled. "Trust me."

"I think it's pretty cool," Lucario interjected.

"Well, what about Eevee?" Braixen asked, turning towards her. Eevee looked down.

"I'm fine with whatever," the evolution fox mumbled.

"Have any preferences, though?" Braixen pressed.

"I, uh… I guess Pokécenter," Eevee murmured. "It's quieter."

Braixen nodded triumphantly. "We all said that anyway," he said. "Now the vote is concrete."

"Hold on," Lucario interrupted. "First off, I never picked a side. Secondly, who put you in charge of everything?"

"Well, what's your vote?"

"I'm neutral like Eevee," Lucario stated, folding his arms. "But I think we should relay this to Ryan. You know, our master?"

"Fine," Braixen harrumphed. "Go ahead and try to 'relay' it to a guy who can't understand us."

"Easy. Master Ryan?" Lucario turned to face the human, who was fortunately watching his Pokémon bicker and caught the look.

"What are you guys talking about?" the Trainer inquired.

Wordlessly, Lucario pointed towards Bayushki, then in the direction of the giant sundial. Then he pointed at Braixen and shook his head.

"Huh," Ryan said once Lucario was done. After a moment of silence he decreed, "I don't see any reason not to see the dial."

"Oh, come the fuck on!" Braixen yelled, throwing his paws into the air.

"It's not like we have anything better to do," Ryan went on. "Let's go see the apple of this city's eye, yeah?"

"Hell yeah!" Bayushki exclaimed victoriously. Braixen folded his arms and grumbled. Lucario and Eevee remained silent.

With that, they set off towards the sundial.

"Oh, hey, Ryan!"

The aforementioned Trainer and his Pokémon turned to face the noise to see a woman roughly Ryan's age heading towards them, four Pokémon by her side: a Gallade, a Starmie, a Frogadier, and a Zangoose.

The five of them stopped as the woman drew near, and Ryan exclaimed, "Well dang, Amélie, wasn't expecting you to be here too!"

"Et toi aussi, Ryan!" the girl replied cheerily. "But yeah, we're just killing time before the battle."

"Same. Bayushki over here wanted to see the dial in person. Figured it couldn't hurt to take her."

"Hey, Zangoose hasn't either," Amélie quipped.

As the two continued to converse, Lucario looked boredly around at his teammates. When his drifting gaze rested on Bayushki, he raised an eyebrow. The Seviper had slithered away from the throng of the two quintets, a scowl on her face.

Lucario impulsively took a few steps towards her. "Bayu?" he called softly. "Where you going?"

She didn't respond. Lucario came closer. "Bayushki!" he called again, louder this time.

"What?!"

Lucario's eyes widened at her snappish tone. "Whoa, what the hell?" he cried, backing a pace away. "What's with you?"

"I'm not in the mood."

"You were in the mood literally fifteen seconds ago."

Bayushki narrowed her eyes and looked away. "Hmph."

Lucario felt an impulsive indignation at her rudeness, but his sense of concern at her violent change in temperament overrode it. He stepped closer.

"Seriously, Bayushki, what's wrong?" the blue canine asked. "You're making me worried."

The Seviper didn't give any response for several seconds. Lucario began to worry that she was ignoring him. Then she hissed, "Look at the other team."

Lucario did as directed. Amélie—Ryan's long-time close friend and their soon-to-be opponent—was still standing at the front of her anticipative troupe. They didn't seem to be doing anything, just standing around with the exception of Starmie, who was locked in what seemed to be a friendly conversation with Braixen.

Lucario shrugged. "I don't see anything odd about them," he observed. "Do you just dislike them for being your opponents?"

"Look at the Zangoose." was all Bayushki said.

The realization struck Lucario like a brick. "Oh, I see," he said. "Sorry. I forgot that you guys have a blood feud. I take it you're gonna want to—"

"No, I mean look at him," she interrupted. "Really look at him."

Confused, Lucario fixed his eyes on the Zangoose. The cat ferret hung at the back of his team, his eyes downcast. He held his paws close to him, and his face told Lucario he was uneasy.

Lucario blinked. Right before he looked away, he saw Zangoose cast a glance up at him and Bayushki. When he noticed the aura wolf staring, his eyes widened a bit and immediately darted back down.

"He, uh, doesn't seem all too cheery," Lucario told Bayushki.

"He's scared of me," the snake growled. "I know he is."

"Oh." Lucario shrugged. That seemed as reasonable an explanation for his behaviour as any. But he still had a question.

"Why are you so flustered about it?" he asked. "I get you too have a blood feud, but why is him being scared such a big deal?"

Bayushki sighed. "There are two types of Zangoose we Seviper really pay attention to," she told him. "We call them 'dominants' and 'recessives'. Dominants are the tough ones. The alpha males. They've got the tick in them that gives them their bloodlust for us. They're strong, fast, and fierce, and by Arceus do they love fighting us."

Her eyes narrowed as she continued, "Then you have the recessives. They don't have that tick. And without it, all their tenacity is gone. They don't have the power to despise us like dominants do. And what do you do when you're too weak to fight your mortal enemy?"

"I don't know."

"You fear them. Recessives know they can't fight a Seviper, but Seviper are still a threat to them. And that scares them. Their weakness on the outside makes them weak on the inside."

"So, I take it that Zangoose over there is recessive?"

"Yeah," Seviper muttered with a nod. Her scowl contorted even further and she let out a growl. "Arceus, it disgusts me."

"Damn, Bayu, I get you're a Seviper, but that's harsh. Just because he's a bit weak?"

She shook her head in angry dismay. "No!" she hissed. "That's not it! I don't want to fight him! I can't bring myself to!"

"... You don't want to fight him?" Lucario repeated. A shake of the Seviper's head. "But I thought—"

"I know, I know," Bayushki huffed. "Seviper, Zangoose, blood feud—I get it. But I'm sick of being a part of that. I'm sick of needless wars. I'm sick of blood being spilt and lives being ended for no reason other than 'nature says so'. We're intelligent creatures, Luke! We're above our nature!"

Her heated expression faded into forlornness. "But most of us don't realize that."

"Damn, Bayu, that's… depressing," Lucario mumbled.

She nodded. "Yeah, it is."

Lucario remained uncomfortably silent for a moment. Then he asked, "But this is just a regular Pokémon battle. You're not trying to kill him, only faint him. You like battles, right?"

"I like fighting people," Bayushki growled. "I don't like hurting people. I'd be so much more fine with this if he were dominant. But he's not. He's recessive. He doesn't want this fight. He can't fight, and he's afraid, Luke. Pummeling someone like him is just—it's not fighting. It's cruel. Sadistic. I don't want to do that to him."

As Seviper finished, Lucario kept quiet. He didn't know what to say. The Seviper really was in an unfortunate position. If the odds went against her, she'd be forced to harm the Zangoose.

Except, Lucario realized, maybe she wouldn't be.

"You can always choose not to fight," Lucario reassured her. "Zangoose can, too."

"I guess," Bayushki grunted. "But I don't think either of our Trainers would like that."

"They may own us, but they don't control us," Lucario argued.

"I know, but… ugh, I hate this!" Seviper spat. "I want an opponent in a fight, not a victim in a bullying session!"

"How can you be sure you'll even fight him?" Lucario questioned.

"He's a Zangoose, Luke! I'm a Seviper! You think our Trainers won't pit us against each other? They know damn well about the feud; they want to see who wins!"

Bayushki's voice was rising. "We're going to fight and I'm going to be a sadist! I know it's gonna happen! These stupid Trainers and their stupid fucking battles—"

"Bayushki!" Lucario barked.

"What?"

"Calm down! I have an idea!"

"And what idea would that be?" Her voice dripped with mockery.

"Listen, think about past battles. Who does Master Ryan always send out first?"

"You, obviously. You're the strongest of us."

"And given Master's fighting style, who always stays around to fight until they faint?"

"The… current Pokémon? Lucario, What are you getting at?"

"Think, Bayu. Master Ryan's the kind of Trainer to only switch Pokémon when one faints. If I can stay around to fight the Zangoose, I can fight him for you. You won't have to touch him."

"How can you even be sure you'll make it that far?"

"I'll do it for you," Lucario declared. "You won't have to stomach hurting the recessive."

"I…" a sigh. "Thanks, Luke. I know it seems stupid and all, but he's… he's the little guy. He's scared. I don't want to—"

"It's fine," the aura wolf reassured her. "I'll take care of it. One Fighting-type move will do the trick. He'll be out before he feels any pain."

A weary chuckle. "Arceus, sounds kinda like euthanization when you put it like that."

Lucario shrugged. "I mean, I get it. You don't want to inflict any pain. Makes sense. Nobody in their right mind likes pain. If something's painful, it's usually bad. So I get you. It'll be painless."

"Alright. Thanks, Luke. Really."

"Don't mention it. You, uh, still down for checking out the dial?"

"Of course!"

"Well, let's go get Master, then."

Bayushki wordlessly slithered after him as he made his way over to Ryan, who was still in conversation with Amélie. Lucario lightly nudged his Trainer, and he turned towards him with an expectant look.

"What is it?" he asked. Lucario replied a flick of his head in the direction of the sundial.

"Oh, right. Come on, guys!" Looking back to Amélie, Ryan said, "If you're heading there, too, let's talk on the way."

"D'accord." The two Trainers continued to talk as they resumed their original route with their Pokémon following suit, talking amongst themselves rather than with their opponents.

"You know, I just realized—Kirlia's evolved since we last met," Eevee piped up.

"Yeah, he has," Lucario observed with a sidelong glance at the other team's Gallade. "I wonder how much stronger he's gotten."

"I wonder how much more pretentious he's gotten," Braixen snorted.

"He's never been pretentious, though," Lucario said, confused.

"I know but, like, he's a Gallade now. He's probably ditched his old personality and was just like"-Braixen put on a posh voice-"'Oh, I am a knight! Look at me! I am so smart and noble and chivalrous and strong! Can't you tell I watch Rick and Mankey?'"

Lucario bit back a snort. "I'm sure he's swell, still," he argued.

"Hopefully." was all Braixen said in reply.

The team remained untalkative for the rest of the journey. Ryan and Amélie continued to talk about various Trainer nonsense until they reached the sundial some minutes later.

"Sweet mother of Arceus," Bayushki breathed as they approached the enormous crystal. Everyone else just nodded. It was a pretty structure, but they'd all seen it a million times before; it was nothing new to them.

Ryan and Amélie had stopped conversing by this point, leaving everyone standing around staring at the sundial. Lucario noticed Bayushki crawling closer to it, marveling at the spectacle. From the corner of his vision, he saw Amélie's Zangoose doing the same. Apprehension twinged in his belly. They were getting closer to each other, neither one noticing the other in their shared state of mesmerization.

Lucario fidgeted. Should he do something? They were getting much closer to the dial and much closer to one another. They were clearly oblivious to such a fact, but if they did somehow notice each other…

They were about fifteen feet away from each other when Lucario cracked and called out, "Uh, Bayushki?" The Seviper visibly snapped out of her trancelike state and looked towards the aura wolf. Unfortunately, Lucario noticed with dismay, he'd also caught the attention of Zangoose. The cat ferret turned to face the unexpected sound of his voice—and his gaze swept over to the snake next to him.

Even from where he stood, Lucario heard Zangoose gasp. Bayushki swiveled back around and finally took note of the Pokémon beside her. She violently recoiled.

"What the fuck?!" she shrieked loudly enough to grab everyone's attention. Zangoose flinched at her outraged tone and, before Bayushki could realize her erroneous reaction, sped away from her, back to his teammates.

Lucario's dismay grew when he saw Bayushki immediately deflate. Zangoose placed himself next to Starmie and didn't look back towards her. Bayushki lowered her head.

Lucario rushed to her side. "I'm sorry," he stammered. "I wanted to to warn you. I didn't think—"

"I screwed up, Luke," Bayushki mumbled. "I let my shock get the better of me. If he wasn't a hundred percent sure I hate him, he is now."

"It's not your fault," Lucario insisted. "You didn't have time to think. Don't blame yourself. If I hadn't called, you wouldn't have…"

He trailed off. She clearly wasn't listening. This close to her, Lucario was unable to block out her heavy aura. Bayushki was crushed. Against her will, she'd portrayed herself as the hateful snake Zangoose feared her to be. She hadn't mentioned it in their prior conversation, but feeling it from her aura, Lucario saw that simply not hurting Zangoose for the sake of kindness wasn't her only issue: She wanted to befriend him, to bond with him, for she wanted to prove to him that she detested their rivalry. Her wants didn't and at not being unnecessarily violent; she wanted furthermore to not be seen as such by her "mortal enemy". But whatever chance she'd had to show this Zangoose she was a good Seviper had surely just tremendously diminished.

And it was his fault.

"... Come on," Lucario urged gently. "Let's get back to the group."

Bayushki silently followed him to where Braixen and Eevee stood staring. When they drew close, Braixen commented, "Damn, Bayu, that was loud!" He grinned. "Well, you sure showed him, huh?"

Lucario sensed the Seviper's aura crackle with heat. "Shut up," she growled.

"Damn, he get under your scales that much?"

The crackling turned to boiling. "What part of 'shut up' do you not understand?" Bayushki barked.

Braixen and Eevee's eyes both widened at her hostility. They quickly backed away.

"Whoa!" Braixen exclaimed. "Calm the fuck down, Bayu! Take your anger out on the Zangoose, not us!"

Bayushki snarled. "You little—"

"Bayushki!" Lucario rallied. "Calm down! He doesn't know!"

Bayushki glared at Braixen, breathing hard, fangs bared, for several seconds. Slowly, she began to back away, evidently straining to keep her wits about her.

"He doesn't know," Lucario repeated emphatically. "Chill."

"Don't know what?" Braixen asked.

"Bayushki is sick of the Zangoose-Seviper feud," Lucario quickly explained. "She doesn't want to fight him, especially because he's so scared of her—that's not fighting; that's cruelty on her part."

"Oh." Braixen blinked. "That's, uh, pretty lame."

"It is," Eevee agreed sadly.

"You don't know the half of it," Bayushki muttered. "I hate this fight. I hate it so much. But no Zangoose knows that. They have no reason not to think I'm just another bloodthirsty Seviper looking for a Zangoose to eat. I want so bad to prove them wrong, to make them stop their pointless bigotry, but I never can. And I get looked down on when all I want to do is put an end to needless suffering."

Her voice wavered. "Imagine wanting so much to end some petty superstition between your kin and someone else and being completely unable to because they see you as nothing other than a monster." Her voice rose. "Imagine trying to be the solution only to be branded as the problem! Imagine being disdained by someone who you could be blood brothers with, all because of what you were born as!"

Lucario saw Braixen's expression contort at Bayushki's last sentence. His eyes widened a bit and averted themselves with a grimace.

"Actually," he mumbled softly, "I can get an idea of that last part."

Everyone perked up. "What do you mean?" Lucario asked.

Braixen's eyes flashed. His face told Lucario that the fire fox deeply regretted his words. He looked down. "I-I…" He growled. "Nothing," he muttered.

Eevee inched closer to him. "Braixen, is something happening that we don't know about?" she asked gently.

Braixen shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it," he tersely replied.

"Braixen…" Bayushki murmured; Lucario sensed that even she in her crushed state had become concerned over her friend's sudden confession.

"Look, just forget I said anything," Braixen said.

Lucario stepped closer. Braixen's aura was alight with panic, dread… shame? Lucario frowned. Something was deeply wrong. What could Braixen be hiding?

"Listen, Bray," Lucario softly coaxed. "We're your family. Whatever's wrong, please tell us."

"I don't know if I can," Braixen protested, voice shaky.

"You can," Lucario insisted.

Braixen didn't reply with words, only a whimper. He placed his head in his paws. "Fuck… I'm scared."

"Of what?" Lucario queried.

"That you might hate me for… for…" he drew in a trembling breath; Lucario could see tear stains forming on the palms of his paws. "My secret."

"No, Braixen!" Eevee gasped. "We love you, no matter what!"

"She's right," Bayushki agreed. "We couldn't bring ourselves to hate you, ever."

Lucario nodded. "We're all on the same team, Bray. We're here for each other. And we're here for you. So please, let us help. Tell us what's wrong."

"I…" Braixen broke off into a sob.

"Hey, hey," Lucario shushed. Closing the distance between them, he pulled his friend into an embrace. "It's okay. Take your time, alright?"

Braixen nodded. "Th-thank you," he uttered shakily.

"Just take it easy. Go slow. And know we love you." Lucario gave Braixen a soft squeeze.

The fire fox didn't reply until he'd stopped his shaking and broken the embrace. When he did, he looked over his friends with reddened eyes before taking a tremulous breath and speaking.

"So, it all goes back to when I was living under Professor Sycamore's care," Braixen began, "with Frogadier—you know, Amélie's Frogadier."

He gestured over to the aforementioned Trainer's team, who were all standing at attention while she and Ryan talked—it seemed their Trainer hadn't noticed his starter Pokémon's breakdown. Lucario, Eevee, and Bayushki all took a glance at Frogadier. He had a foreleg protectively wrapped around Zangoose, head lowered and saying something into his ear.

"Yep, that one," Braixen confirmed. "See, he was always like how he is now: serious, quiet, introverted… powerful, even when we were little. Growing up around him, it intimidated me. I didn't get why he was always so unfun when Chespin and I could always find fun to be had. He didn't really smile, he didn't go nuts—he was always collected. As I got older, though, I got smarter. Empathetic. More sentimental. And over time, that intimidation—well, it changed."

Braixen seemed to be growing nervous. "It turned into fascination. I kind of marveled at Frogadier—Froakie then. It was so… interesting to see someone as quiet and somber as he was. I didn't get it. I only talked to him a few times, and as polite as he was, he just wasn't social. And he didn't get shaken, either. He seemed ready to weather any challenge thrown at him—including battles." Braixen chuckled. "He could whip Chespin's ass any day of the week."

His tense demeanor returned. "After Ryan took me and I got to talk to him a lot less—around the time I was getting ready to evolve—I started to really get a grasp on the concept of inner strength. And thinking about Froakie, that fascination turned into respect. As I got older, that respect turned into admiration."

Braixen gulped. "A-and then when Ryan and Amélie started to reconnect and I could talk to him again, that admiration turned into… a crush. And then that crush turned into want."

The shock hit Lucario like an Electric-type attack. "Are you saying… you're in love with Frogadier?"

Braixen nodded. "Y-yes."

"So you're saying you're—"

"Yes, Lucario," Braixen affirmed. "Yes."

Eevee gasped. "Oh, my goodness!"

"I… Braixen, I don't know what to say," Lucario mumbled. "You've been hiding that from us all along?"

Another nod. Everyone stood in stunned silence.

For a few moments. Then, words started tumbling out of Braixen's mouth at the speed of light.

"I-I didn't want to tell you because I know how the world feels about it. It's been a real fucking problem for years now and there's nothing I can do. I hate it. I hate myself! And I'm scared others will hate me! They'll say it's wrong! It's unnatural! It's immoral! So much stupid bullshit, acting like I can actually choose who I want to—"

"Braixen!" Lucario admonished. "Calm down!"

Braixen stopped. His lips were peeled back, his eyes filled with fresh tears. He met Lucario's gaze for mere moments before his head dropped. A dreadful whine escaped his lips.

"I won't lie, Braixen," Lucario began. "I wasn't expecting that to come from you. I never would've gotten the idea." Reaching close, he gently laid a paw on Braixen's shoulder.

"But I don't think any different of you for it," Lucario declared. "You have my full support in being who you want to be—or who you have to be. I won't ever try to stop you, hurt you, 'fix' you—nothing of the sort."

Braixen looked up at him. His lips were shaking as he tried to sob out, "Lucario, I—"

"You're my family, Bray." Lucario smiled gently. "Nothing will change that."

Braixen wiped the tears from his eyes. More came, but Lucario knew that they were turning into tears of relief. "Th-thank you, Luke," he breathed. "So, so much."

Bayushki and Eevee cane forward.

"I'm pretty sure nature intended me to want to rip the throat of every Zangoose to shreds," she quipped, "and I don't. Pretty sure that makes my life choices unnatural. So, honestly? If I yelled at you for being born 'unnatural' I'd be a filthy hypocrite."

She grinned. "At this point I'm just gonna assume 'unnatural' characteristics are good. And you, Braixen, are a good person. The 'laws of nature' don't have a single say in that."

"I'm not of that… persuasion myself," Eevee mumbled, "so I can't say I understand it. But I'm not against it. Nor am I against you. All of you mean a lot to me." A smile stretched her lips. "And you all still do."

Braixen sighed. "Sweet Arceus, you guys are the best," he breathed, still drying to dry his ever-flowing tears. "Really. I…"

He broke into a sob again. "Just thank you so much! I was terrified that none of you would… would…" he shook his head. "I'm so overwhelmed right now. I love all of you so much. You really are my family."

"Of course we are," Eevee agreed. "We have been for years. And family sticks together."

Braixen knelt down and picked Eevee up in a hug. "You guys are the absolute best."

Bayushki chuckled. "Thanks. We try."

Braixen placed Eevee down and embraced Bayushki as well. "Well, you're doing great. Really great."

"Aww, you're too kind."

"No, you all are the kind ones. For sure."

Lucario felt the corners of his lips upturn. Warm compassion blossomed and spread through his chest like golden honey as Braixen let go of the Seviper and wrapped his arms around him.

"Seriously, I can't put into words how much weight this is off my chest," Braixen emphatically stated. "It's a whole lot. A lot of tons."

"A ton of tons?" Lucario asked, smirking.

The fire fox chuckled as he let go of his canine friend. "Yeah."

Bayushki piped up, "So, what you said before—that you could get an idea of the way I felt—this is what you meant? You were scared we weren't going to accept you for who you are?"

"Well, partially that"-Braixen grimaced-"but the truth is, I'm more worried about how whom I actually prefer feels about it."

Bayushki nodded. "That makes sense," she conceded.

"At first, I was paranoid that Frogadier wouldn't feel the same," the fox continued. "But as I got older and as I developed this priceless familial bond with all of you, I learned to accept that a bond like that with him would be enough for me to be happy—not all love is romantic, after all."

Braixen's brow furrowed. "But once I got to re-know him after our Trainers separated us, I noticed that he was all about battles—and his thought on his enemies were pretty serious. He wants 'real' opponents. He detests fighting unfair, and he's not exactly kind towards enemies he thinks are 'unworthy'. And, well, that makes me worried."

"Why?" Lucario inquired.

"Well, it's just"-Braixen frowned-"I'm not as strong a fighter as I'd like to be. I'm supposed to be pyrokinetic, but I haven't really gotten there yet, so I have to rely more on my physical strength—which, thanks to being pyrokinetic, I don't have much of. So basically, I doubt Frogadier would have to try to decimate me in a fight."

"So What you're saying is, you're worried Frogadier will view you as weak and not worth his respect?" Eevee clarified.

"Yeah," Braixen sighed. "Exactly."

"I'm sure if you try your best and fight honorably, he'll respect that," Lucario reasoned.

"What if I'm too weak?" Braixen fretted. "What if he whips me so bad it looks pathetic?"

"You won't look pathetic. Just give it your best shot," Lucario encouraged. "Who says you'll have to fight him anyhow? Maybe I will. Maybe Eevee will."

"I sure hope I don't!" Eevee interjected. "He definitely knows at least one Fighting-type move. No thank you!"

Lucario chuckled. "Fair play, fair play."

"I can do my best. But what if I still fail?" Braixen groaned.

"You won't, Braixen. Look, if you end up having to verse him, I'll at least make sure you don't have to fight anyone else beforehand. You'll want to be at full strength to face such a difficult opponent."

"You can say that again," Braixen huffed.

"You can do it, Bray," Lucario cheered. "I believe in you."

A sigh. "I hope you're right."

"I'm sure I am. Just do your best. Fight well, fight respectably, and show Frogadier you're more than worth his time."

"Hey, guys!"

The four Pokémon turned to face the sound. Ryan was waving towards them, beckoning them to come over.

"We need to get going to make it to the battle site on time!" Ryan stated. "Let's get going!"

The four of them reacted accordingly, hurrying over to their Trainer as he turned and followed Amélie's team to the Pokécenter.

"Did you guys enjoy the dial?" Ryan asked.

"Mhm!" said everyone in near-unison.

"Good. Seems like the others did too."

The conversation didn't continue from there, leaving Lucario to his own thoughts as the city bustled around him. His mind quickly focused on the nearing battle he would fight. He wondered which opponent he would verse first. He knew Ryan was going to send him out to start off—he was the strongest of the group by a fair deal—but as for Amélie, he couldn't say. Perhaps she would send Starmie to matchup against his Fighting-type disposition, or perhaps her newly evolved Gallade to counter his Steel side. Maybe Frogadier would lead the battle. Zangoose? Most likely not.

Lucario looked around at his teammates. Excitement and nervousness tingled all around him; all three of the other Pokémon had something to feel apprehensive towards. Braixen wanted to prove himself to Frogadier, Bayushki wanted to avoid any conflict with the Zangoose, and Eevee wanted to evolve. All slightly steep hopes, but hopes he was sure they could accomplish.

Could they? Lucario frowned. Luck would have to be on Bayushki's side for her opponent to be someone other than Zangoose; Eevee was matched up against very strong Pokémon that could easily faint her; Braixen was severely outmatched by both Starmie and Frogadier. For all three of them to achieve their dreams, they'd have some steep mountains to climb.

But there was always the truth that Lucario could help them climb it.

He could fight the Zangoose for Bayushki, or perhaps match him up against Eevee as he was clearly the weakest opponent. He could fight Frogadier for Braixen or, at the least, whittle him down or prevent Braixen from exhausting himself against other fighters. Yes, Lucario was sure he could do it.

A sudden stress sprung up in his brain: The possibility that he couldn't. If he failed to go forth with his promises to Braixen and Bayushki, then all their aspirations stemming from this battle would wither. Braixen might never catch Frogadier's eye, and Bayushki might never prove herself to Zangoose that she wasn't a barbarian. Moreover, if Eevee didn't evolve, she would remain significantly weaker than the rest of the group until she did evolve. What effects would that have on her self-confidence, being so far behind in power from everyone else?

Lucario felt a knot grow in his belly. If he put all this weight on himself and collapsed, then his team would collapse with him. They were making gambles that could affect their lifelong relationships with others and with themselves; could Lucario really help them all roll a better set of dice for it?

Lucario growled under his breath in response to a spark igniting in his chest. These were his friends and family; he could do it and he would do it for them. He said he would, had assured them so. He could not fail. He wouldn't allow it.

As Ryan and Amélie led their Pokémon over a crosswalk, Lucario felt a determination relax his apprehensive stomach. They'd all called him a leader earlier today; he would be a leader. He would lead them to their next friendship, their next love, their next reason to respect themselves, all in this one battle. He could do it. He was sure of it.

Or at least, he hoped it so.


	5. Chapter 5

"Whew, we made it! And just in time, too!"

Ryan and Amélie's teams drew up to the Pokécenter. Ryan stepped forth, activating the sliding glass doors at the entrance. His Pokémon followed suit, then Amélie and her team. They were greeted with the same interior that most Kalosian Pokécenters held: A large, spacious atrium walled in with sky blue and two white service desks—one at the front for shopping, where the clerk in question offered a friendly greetings to Ryan and Amélie, and one at the back of the room where a nurse dressed in a white-and-pink uniform and sporting exotically-permed red locks of hair was dutifully waiting for the next Trainer to bring in their Pokémon in need of aid.

The Trainer duo made their way to the back service area. The nurse took note of their approach and smiled.

"Hello!" she greeted. "Welcome to the Pokémon Center! How may I help you today?"

"Hi, the two of us are scheduled to have a battle in the courtyard out back," Ryan clarified.

"Of course! Do you have the tickets given to you upon purchasing a battle spot in advance?"

"... I think so," Ryan replied. He reached into his back pocket—and came up empty. He quickly began searching through his other pockets, including the one on his jacket. No ticket for entry.

"What the—?" Ryan fretted nervously, before Amélie giggled.

"I have it, ami," she said, pulling two admissions from her purse. "You asked me to hold on to them. Remember?"

"Oh." Right smiled sheepishly. "Right."

Another giggle. Turning back to the nurse, Amélie handed them over. "Here you are!"

The nurse took the two tickets and looked them over. "Single battle on one-thirty P.M., July 15, 1993, between Ryan Wheaton and Amélie Clemence?" the nurse asked.

The two Trainers nodded.

"Right this way, please."

The two teams followed the nurse out the back of the Pokécenter. As they walked, Braixen leaned over to Lucario and muttered, "It's big boy time."

Lucario nodded. The excitement and nervousness had been mounting in his system for the entirety of the way here, but now, as the final moments ticked down, he forced his breathing to slow and his mind to clear. He had to focus, and he would. He was a Lucario; it was what he dd best. He steadied his heart, his lungs, his extremities, and his head. If he wanted to win, he'd have to go in not with rampant worry, but tempered confidence.

So confidently he walked, alongside his team and through another pair of sliding glass doors that led to the outside world. Around him were several sandy, noisy, rectangular courtyards, all of which were occupied by various battling Trainers except for one empty patch of earth nearby. Naturally, the nurse led the two Trainers to the empty courtyard.

"Okay, everyone line up on either short side of the sandy rectangle," the nurse commanded.

Ryan led his Pokémon to the left side, causing Amélie to take her squad to the right.

"Will the leaders of both teams turn to face each other?"

Ryan and Amélie already were.

"The rules are simple: This is a single battle. No more than one Pokémon may on the battlefield at a time for either Trainer. If your opponent's Pokémon faints, you may not switch to another Pokémon until your next turn. Your battle may not extend beyond the boundaries of the battling field. If at any point the battle damages the surrounding structures or interferes with the battles of other Trainers, the Trainer responsible will be sought out and must pay the fine deemed appropriate."

The nurse smirked in an almost-devious way as she backed away from the edge of the courtyard. "Other than that, the field is yours. Get ready, get set, fight!"

The two teams sprang into action.

"You're up, Lucario!" Ryan called. Lucario took one last moment to steady his head and steel his body before he sprang into the air above his team, coming to a landing on one knee in the field, directly in front of his Trainer. Slowly, powerfully, he rose to a standing pose, took a deep breath, and let loose a furious battle cry.

"Gallade, va de l'avant!" Amélie commanded. The Pokémon quietly but forcefully pushed his way through his teammates, stepping out onto the courtyard with a fiery hunger for battle only thinly veiled by his graceful approach. Halting a few feet in front of his Trainer, he lowered his head and bowed to Lucario.

"Alright, Luke, let's do this! Swords Dance!"

Lucario raised his paws in an elegant pose over his head, above the aura-sensing spikes on the backs of his paws formed two aura manifestations in the shape of two long double-edged swords.

Lucario lowered his arms, bringing the sword-auras down with him. He began to sway his arms in a hypnotic dance; slowly at first, then quickly going up in speed as he felt the energy flow through him. Soon he was dancing a stationary dance, twirling the sword-auras around him as if they were ribbons, slashing them this way and that, clanging them together, all of which turned his anticipation into inner heat. The energy of the dance would sharply raise the damage his attacks dealt, as Ryan wanted, but more importantly it gave Lucario ample time to tap into his aura-reading abilities and direct them towards Gallade. It was perhaps the sole major benefit he found in that unwanted innate gift of his: the ability to sense his foes' thoughts and emotions, giving him the upper edge in any fight.

He nearly stopped his dance when he tapped into Gallade's thoughts. The mystic-knight was trying to do the same to him, and when Lucario revealed his mind-reading capabilities, he was just as surprised as the aura wolf. Now, as Lucario's vicious whirling and twirling drew to a close, the two Pokémon were essentially telepathically communicating with one another.

It didn't take long for the two of them to mutually come to an agreement: that sixth sense of theirs would be useless against each other, since neither side would be able to outwit the other if they were getting their thoughts read as well. Internally, they both agreed to focus on the outside world and stay away from each other's heads. Externally, Lucario slowed to a standstill and fixed his eyes on Gallade's. They both gave a small, barely noticeable nod to one another.

"You think that attack boost is gonna phase us?" Amélie taunted. "See what we can do! Gallade, Power Up Punch!"

Gallade let out a growl, making a sudden lunge for Lucario. A blue energy formed around the knight's fist and quickly engulfed his entire blade-arm.

Lucario didn't have time to dodge. The aura wolf put up his arms defensively. A small bit of his aura put itself up in front of him mere milliseconds before Gallade slammed his fist into it, shattering it completely and sending Lucario sliding back several feet. A blunt pain heated the bones of both his arms, but the aura had done well to shield his body from most of the damage.

Gallade leapt back to his starting point as a small red glow briefly emanated from his body.

"Ha, beat that!" Amélie cheered. "Not only did we boost our damage ourselves, we did some along the way!"

Ryan nodded. "Fair play, mon chèr!"

"It's 'ma chère', fou!"

"C'est la vie!"

Amidst the rising energy of the battle, Lucario sensed mild annoyance prickle from Amélie's aura. "We really need to work on your French," she stated. "Now make your move!"

"With pleasure! Lucario, Poison Jab!"

Lucario felt his auric energy channel itself into a venom that spread itself over his paw. Dashing forward, he lunged at Gallade with the concoction at the ready.

"Dodge, Gallade!"

Gallade leapt to the side just as Lucario's poison-soaked paw went by. However, he wasn't quite fast enough. The tainted aura slipped itself onto the skin of the knight's chest and Lucario's paw did end up catching his arm. Gallade yelled in pain as Lucario landed mere inches from the edge of the courtyard, Gallade sharply to his left.

"Quick Gallade, Psycho Cut!"

Before Lucario could so much as correct his awkward stance, a wave of psychic power crashed into his side. He let out an agonized cry as the wave of force dispersed into multiple smaller waves of agony that spread through his ribs. The aura wolf crashed into the ground with a painful thud.

Angry dismay seeped into Lucario alongside the pain. Between the damage boost and the two super-effective moves, Gallade had already done much harm to Lucario. That one slash left him with waves of pain vibrating through his system and much of his energy worn.

Groaning, he forced himself up. Kirlia had become much, much stronger since they'd last met. This was going to be very tough.

"Dammit! Come on, Lucario, power through!" Ryan encouraged. "You've got this, buddy!"

Lucario steadied his paws and turned to face his opponent once more. Noticing the poison that splotched his chest and inner arm, Lucario couldn't help feeling a small victory when he saw the Gallade shudder as if the temperature of the air had suddenly dropped. The Poison Jab had managed to get into his system and was slowly weakening him by the minute.

Ryan must have noticed it too, because Lucario heard a triumphant laugh come from him. "You're gonna need an Antidote!" he exclaimed to Amélie. "Alright, Lucario, Aura Sphere!"

Lucario's forearm started to heat up. A swell of energy began to manifest on it, getting larger and larger until his limb was inside a giant, glowing blue ball of power. Lucario gathered his strength and threw the sphere as hard as he could. Gallade immediately jumped to the side, but the sphere sensed his movement and adjusted its path accordingly, slamming straight into the knight.

Lucario growled to himself as the sphere nearly dissipated on contact with his foe. Against a Psychic-type like Gallade, it was a weak move. It probably barely inflicted any damage.

"Hey, guess who else is gonna need an Antidote? Gallade, use Toxic!"

Lucario's eyes widened at the words. Gallade had learned Toxic? When? How? Lucario didn't take the time to ponder—he needed that time to dodge as Gallade leapt at him with his blade-arm extended and soaked in a grisly purple liquid.

Lucario didn't need a command from his Trainer to dodge. He hastily ducked, just barly missing the venom-saturated sword as it swooshed past his perky ears. Gallade landed on his feet a few yards behind Lucario.

The canine spun to face him with a low growl as Ryan whistled in cheer. "Nice one, Lucario! Now, what do you say we make sure to give back that earlier Psycho Cut twice as hard? Swords Dance again!"

Lucario gratefully dragged his energy forth. Between the expense of the energy his moves needed in order to work and the significant damage he'd already suffered, his aura was beginning to dim. This dance would further expend it, but if he powered through, it would revitalize his power tenfold. So he formed the swords once more and began swishing them around, reigniting the fire in his blood that had begun to extinguish. He clashed and slashed the air, dancing his macabre dance. Several moments passed as he drew to a close, his aura roused back to attention.

"That's not gonna help you, mon ami! Gallade, Psycho Cut!"

The Pokéon was lightning fast. Lucario wasn't able to move away. The pink glow of his sword-arm flashed by Lucario's eyes as the knight swept towards him. The blade extended to its maximum length, slashed forth, and struck Lucario straight in the spike on his chest, his most vital aura-reading organ.

Lucario's aura exploded with pain. He howled in pure, sheer agony as he went flying into the air, landing harshly on his back near where his team stood watching. It felt like the spike on his chest had been shattered, melted into one solid state, frozen solid, and then shattered again. Never before had such a devastating move hit such a sensitive part of his body, and the fire it brought with it was, quite literally, unbearable—the fire, the sheer icy fire of that super-effective move piercing like a red-hot needle into Lucario's aura was so disorienting, so overwhelming, so terribly immense, that Lucario could feel his consciousness slipping away, giving in to the sweet relief of the blackness now edging his vision and dulling his hearing.

But through the void, several voices echoed at the edge of his consciousness.

"Come on, Lucario, get up!" Ryan called heatedly. "It's not over yet! See how poisoned that Gallade is? Come on, power through! Hold out! He'll faint on his own!"

"You can do this, Lucario!" Eevee joined in. "Get up! Keep going!"

"Come on, come on!" Braixen coaxed. "Get up, man! You got this! I know you do!"

"Keep fighting, Luke!" Bayushki cheered. "You're almost there!"

It was the last two that caught his attention. Underneath the exhilaration, underneath the encouragement, Lucario could hear in Braixen's and Bayushki's voices a twinge of desperation. In his dimming, pain-saturated mind, Lucario recalled the conversations they held just a few dozen minutes ago. He recalled their take on the battle, their fears, and the stakes they were holding in this fight if it didn't go their way. And he recalled he'd promised them he would see them through to the realization of their aspirations.

As the pain dug its coal-black claws into his brain, forcefully attempting to drag him into a blissful sleep, Lucario fought pushed through the agony and oh-so-slowly, forcing every drop of energy he could into it, sat up.

The brutal pain intensified tenfold, rattling his skull and blurring his vision. But as the pain intensified, so did his determination, pulling him back into the waking world. He would not fail. He couldn't. His friends wanted, no, needed him to win. He would not allow himself to give in.

They'd called him a leader. And leaders were strong.

Groaning distressedly, Lucario placed his paws underneath him and forced himself to stand. Behind him, his team let out cheers of triumph.

"That's the spirit!" came one voice, barely audible over another going, "I knew you could do it!" Both mingled with a cry of "That's our Luke!" and another of "You've so got this, man!"

Lucario gritted his teeth as he stood fully up. He was wobbly on his feet. His muscles felt shredded. His head was screaming. But he wasn't out of the fight yet.

"Quick, Gallade! Before he can fight back! Use Psycho Cut one more time!"

Gallade had already gone a turn. Wasn't that against the rules? Lucario wasn't sure. But he didn't care. He still had one last trick up his sleeve. And Ryan knew well what Lucario was thinking of.

"Not so fast!" Ryan victoriously declared. "Lucario, use Counter!"

Lucario's aura was going dark. He had no energy left, physical or auric. He was running on fumes. But he dredged up those fumes and formed them into a mirror-like pane in front of him. Gallade's sword crashed into the pane, obliterating it, but the attack did not touch his enemy.

As Gallade quickly sprang away, the pieces of the pane began to levitate around Lucario, held not by his energy, but by the reverberating psychic power of the failed Psycho Cut. The bright blue shards began to glow red, vibrating with intensity as they all turned to face Gallade. Suddenly, the shards all whipped towards him like a flurry of knives, bursting into dust upon impact with the knight's body. Gallade was unable to shield himself as the tiny glasslike aura pieces slashed him.

"I knew I should have kept that move around!" Ryan laughed. "Between the sheer power of that Psycho Cut and the super-effective matchup against Lucario, that would have done a lot of damage!" he grinned smugly at Amélie. "But thanks to Counter, not only does Lucario not take any of it, but poor Gallade gets double the load that Lucario would have!"

Amélie groaned in frustration. "Merde!" she cursed.

Gallade grunted as he slowly found his feet again. But those feet were very wobbly. That move had evidently dealt a huge impact on Gallade's strength.

And as a few bolts of poisonous energy visibly zapped through his system, Lucario could see that his energy had been dealt too heavy a blow. The Gallade collapsed as the poison coursed through him, his body unable to maintain fighting function with the debilitating venom flowing in his veins.

"No! Gallade!" Amélie cried in dismay. But it was no use; Gallade had fainted.

"Woohoo!" Ryan cheered. "You did it, Lucario! On to opponent number two!"

Slowly, Lucario turned to face his master. He legs were weak, his breath heaving, his head spinning. Ryan locked eyes with his Pokémon, and his mirth faded a bit when he saw just how beat-up Lucario was.

Lucario tried to say something, but something else caught his throat. He coughed, holding up a paw to his lips, and blinked when he felt a liquid that could only be described as "icy hot" splattered onto his paw. Pulling it away, he inspected whatever he'd just coughed up. His paw was covered in a thin, fluid, bright blue liquid. Literally bright blue—the liquid was glowing.

Lucario's heart stopped. He'd never seen this phlegm before, but he knew exactly what it was. It was his aura, his inner energy, hacked up from his system.

His aura. A non-physical substance that was only supposed to manifest into a physical form when commanded.

He was bleeding his own aura.

Lucario looked back towards his now-confused Trainer.

"Lucario?" Ryan asked. "Are you alright?"

Lucario was certain Ryan could see the terror in his eyes. He barely shook his head no.

Then his legs went out from under him and everything went black.


	6. Chapter 6

"... You were bleeding your own aura?"

Lucario nodded towards his son.

"Yes, Blue Moon," he affirmed. "I was. It was a horrifying revelation."

"Wow. That's… eugh."

Lucario nodded again.

"What happened next?"

"Well, after passing out I—"

"Hey guys, it's lunchtime," called a hissing voice from the backdoor. Lucario and his family looked over to see Bayushki gazing expectantly at them.

"Come on inside," she coaxed. "We're all waiting."

Lucario nodded, turning to face his children. "We can continue this after lunch," he told them.

Joy let out a sigh of relief, while Blue Moon Junior pouted. "C'mon, you can't just leave it like that!" he whined.

Lucario chuckled, pleased by his son's enrapturement. "I can and I am," he replied, standing up alongside Sylveon. "Now come inside with your mother and I, you two."

The two kids followed their parents into the house, one with his arms folded and another with a slight spring in her step. The quartet followed Bayushki into the kitchen, where the others were, as the Seviper had said, waiting by a large dining table decorated with various food items and plates, with six chairs crammed around the table, and a smaller plastic folding table with no chairs a moderate distance away. On either side of the smaller table sat a paper plate, each one holding chopped-up meat of some sort and an Oran berry.

"Hey, guys," Ryan greeted as Delphox and Zangoose seated themselves on either side of him. "I made fried Tynamo with garlic butter sauce."

Blue Moon and Joy both scrunched up their faces,

"Tynamo?" the Riolu griped. "Really?"

Lucario gave him a warning scowl. "Master Ryan made food for us," he growled. "You will be thankful. Tynamo is good for you, whether you enjoy the taste or not."

"I mean, it tastes fine, but… it's just so slimy!"

Joy nodded in agreement.

"The faster you eat it, the faster we can get back to telling the story," Lucario states. "Or would you rather we don't?"

Blue Moon's eyes widened. "N-no, of course not!" he stammered.

"I don't want to go back to the story," Joy snarked.

Before Lucario could react, Sylveon wheeled to face her daughter.

"What did you say, young lady?"

"I don't want to go back to the story. It's stupid and boring. I'm not Blue Moon, so why should I care about this 'namesake'? Whatever that means."

Sylveon marched up to her daughter, her eyes alight with anger.

"You will respect your father!" she barked. "The story he's telling you means more to him than you can imagine! Do you know how much it saddens him to bring up these memories? Do you know how much they hurt him? I was there when he went through it! He's wanted so long to forget, but he can't, especially not now! So be grateful he's putting himself through the pain of remembering to teach you a valuable lesson! Arceus, if I was that insolent at your age, I'd have been given a hole in my head! You will be respectful! Do you hear me?"

Joy's ears dropped, as did her gaze. "I… I…" she drew in a tremulous breath; what came out of her lips afterwards was a whimper.

Lucario saw Sylveon immediately dissipate. "Oh, no. Honey, I…"

She sighed, looking away from her daughter as the Eevee began to sob.

Lucario's gaze flicked to his son. "Go eat," he ordered the Riolu sternly. Blue Moon didn't argue, only shuffled to the small plastic table and grabbed the berry he'd been served. Lucario turned back to his crying daughter and distressed mate and walked back over to them.

"Joy, I'm sorry…" Sylveon murmured, reaching a ribbon out towards her daughter.

Joy flinched away. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked. "You're so mean! Every single day, you find one reason or another to yell at me! 'Oh, Joy, you're being negative! Oh, Joy, you're being disrespectful! Oh, Joy, is that backtalk!' NO, Mom, it ISN'T! Every single time I don't like anything, it's backtalk? How?! I'm not allowed to not like things? Do I just have to be all super nice about everything I hate? Why do I have to like everything?!"

"Joy!" Lucario barked. "Look at me!"

"What do you want?"

"I want you to calm down and I want you to look at me, little missy."

Joy glared at him. "Fine!"

"I don't see you calming down. Take a deep breath and let it out."

She huffed.

"Slowly. Count to three when you breathe in and count to three when you breathe out."

She did as she was told. She slowed down her breathing, taking in a long, large inhale and easing it out.

"Again."

Joy wiped her eyes with a paw, letting out a small sob as she continued to breathe. Gradually, the air entered, then left her lungs.

"One more time."

Inhale, exhale. Lucario could see her tears drying up already.

"There. Don't you feel better now?"

"...l guess."

"Are you willing to listen to me and your mother?"

A sigh. "Okay."

"Good. Now, what is this about 'not being allowed to not like things'?"

The Eevee sniffed. "Whenever Mom makes me do something I don't want to or shows me something I don't like, and I tell her I don't like it. sh-she always says I'm talking back. I'm not! I just don't like it!"

"Now, now, honey, I'm sure you don't mean to be disrespectful," Lucario admonished, "But chances are, you sound like it without realizing."

"B-but—"

"When you don't like something, what do you say?"

"That I don't like it?"

"Is that all?"

"Well, if it's boring or stupid, I'll tell them."

"See, that's rude. Even if you don't like it, they might, and it's not nice to just talk their opinion down like that. There are nicer ways to say you dislike something than 'I don't like it.' or 'It's stupid.'"

"Like what?"

"Like, 'It's not really my thing.' or 'I'm not a fan.' Even simply saying 'I personally don't like it.' is many times better than 'I don't like it.' When you say it like that, it sounds like you're talking them down. Just think about ways to be gentle, and you won't sound rude. You'll just sound honest. And honesty is good."

"How do I know when I'm being honest and when I'm being rude?"

"Simple. Whatever you're about to say to say you dislike something, think about it before you say it. Really think about the words and what they mean, and decide if someone said that to you, if you would think it's mean or not. If you think it would be mean if someone said it to you, don't say it. If you don't think it sounds mean, that doesn't mean it's automatically okay to say, but it's most likely much more respectful than the other option."

Sylveon stepped up. "And, Joy, sometimes it's just best not to say you don't like something at all," she advised. "Like this story. We know you don't find it very exciting. But your father and I went through some tough times during it. Some memories feel good to think about, but a lot feel very bad. It makes him very upset having to remind himself of them and tell them, and when you just up and say, 'I don't want to hear anymore,' it's very disrespectful to him. We're not asking you to like the story. But we are asking you to appreciate the fact that your father is telling it. Does that make any sense?"

"... A little."

"Good." Sylveon smiled softly at her daughter. "I'm very sorry for yelling at you. I overreacted. I'll admit that. I didn't mean to make you cry, sweetie. Just think about how to be more respectful in the future, okay? You're a very good girl. You mean the world to me. Nothing will change that, alright?"

A sniffle. "Alright."

"That's my Joy." Sylveon leaned forward to nuzzle her. "Now go sit with your brother and eat."

The Eevee plodded over to the other plate at the kiddie table. Lucario and Sylveon exchanged a loving look before turning back to the table where everyone was seated and waiting much more awkwardly than before.

"You're, uh, pretty good at this whole 'father' thing," Bayushki commented.

Lucario chuckled. "I'd hope so! I've been at it for eight years now!"

"Still. Pretty sure most parents would just yell at their kid and then punish them with whatever."

"Punishment may be necessary to set a child straight sometimes," Lucario admitted, "But I would rather she refrains from misbehavior like that because she understands it's wrong—that she doesn't do it because she doesn't want to do it, not because she doesn't want to get in trouble for doing it. Just because you call it 'disciplining your child' doesn't mean your child is actually disciplined."

"That's a fair point," Delphox agreed when Bayushki said nothing. "Though, how would you know whether to teach them a lesson or to punish them?"

"The worse the behavior, the harsher the punishment," Lucario explained. "I don't want to go soft on my daughter. But if I can explain to her why an action is incorrect and why she's morally above it—well, I think that would prove to be a much better tactic in not only preventing her from doing it again, but moulding her to be better overall, wouldn't it?"

Delphox shrugged. "Can't argue with that," he conceded. "You're certainly a much better father than I'd be."

Lucario smiled. "Don't be so harsh on yourself, Delphox. I'm sure you would raise a wonderful child."

A small chuckle. "Well, I guess we'll never know, will we?"

Lucario shrugged. "You can always adopt," he offered.

"Fair enou—"

"Uncle Delphox?" Blue Moon called from the kiddie table.

The fire mystic chuckled. "One moment," he told Lucario before turning to face the Riolu. "Yes, Blueberry?"

"Is it true you were in love with Greninja when he was a Frogadier?"

Delphox's eyes widened. Lucario felt a sudden dread; it only just then occurred to him how personal a detail that was, and he'd just thrown it out there to his kids like it was nothing to hide.

"Who told you that?"

"Dad did. In his story about Blue Moon."

Delphox turned to face the canine. Lucario fought the urge to look away.

"You told them that?" Delphox asked. He definitely didn't seem casual about it at all.

Shame began to burn in Lucario's chest. "Delphox, I…"

The aura wolf sighed. "Yes, I did. I never considered how personal it was to you. I'm sorry, I—I just got caught up in the storytelling."

He shook his head. "It never passed my mind to ask you if I could disclose that sort of thing about you," he muttered. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, I'm not mad," Delphox backpedaled. "You all have been way too supportive throughout the years; I'm not going to let others make me feel like my existence is wrong. I'm just surprised you would tell such young kids that I'm gay. Isn't that subject a little too mature for them?"

Lucario felt drenched in relief, letting out all his tension with a chuckle. "No, they still think it's all lovey-Pidovey mush-mush," he explained. "To them, a man loving a man is just as weird and gross as a man loving a woman, or a woman loving a woman."

"Wait," Joy piped up, "You mean there's more to it than that?"

"You'll find out when you're older," Sylveon hastily intervened. "Now no more questions."

"But yes, Blue," Delphox continued, turning back to face Lucario's son. "I was in love with Greninja, and the truth is, I still am."

"Does he… you know, love you back?"

Delphox's eyes twinkled. "I'm sure your father will get around to that detail later in the story."

Lucario expected his son to protest that Delphox was keeping the answer from him, but was surprised when the Riolu just sighed and grumbled, "Alright. If he's gonna tell it in the story, I don't want to spoil it, I guess."

"That's right, you don't. Now finish your Tynamo."

"Dad, do I have to?"

"Finish your Tynamo, son."

"Awww… fine."

"I hope you didn't reveal anything that personal about me," Bayushki stated cautiously.

"Only that you don't enjoy the blood feud with Zangoose."

A quiet chuckle came from the cat ferret sitting beside Bayushki. "I can attest to that!" Zangoose affirmed.

Bayushki nodded approvingly. "Good. I don't want some kid babbling on and on about my secrets."

"What secrets?"

"Exactly."

Lucario rolled his eyes. "Well how in the world do you think I can reveal them if I don't know them?"

The Seviper grinned. "Yes."

"... What?"

"Yep."

Lucario rolled his eyes. "Arceus smite me…"

"This is so sad. Chatot, play—"

"That joke was milked dry before I was even a father, Bayu."

A laugh, followed by a conclusive "Alright, fair enough."

Lucario nodded, grabbing an oily hunk of Tynamo and tearing into it with his fangs. He had to admit, Blue Moon had a point—the fish tasted fine, but the meat itself was uncomfortably slimy, like it was made of oil. It slid down in a rather unpleasant way, making Lucario flatten his lips in distaste.

"So, where are you guys in the story right now?" came Delphox's voice.

"I just passed out from the Anistar Battle," Lucario informed him.

"Ah, the battle that started it all."

Lucario nodded. "I guess so."

"How does Blueberry feel about aura bleeding?" Delphox chuckled. "Does it gross him out?"

Lucario snickered himself. "For sure," he replied before taking another bite of Tynamo.

"Is he enjoying the story altogether?"

"Let's ask him. Blue?" Lucario called, loud enough for his son to hear. "What do you think of my story so far?"

"It's great!" Blue replied. "I can't wait to get back to it!"

"There's your answer," Lucario said to the fire mystic.

"Well, it's good to see at least one of your kids is all about it."

"Joy will live," Lucario dismissed. "Besides, I'm sure the notion that her father sustained a harsh wound like aura bleeding grabbed her attention—she just won't show it."

"Probably."

"What's the story about, again?" Zangoose piped up.

"My son," Lucario explained, "Blue Moon—he got his name from a very close friend. This is the story of that friend."

"It was before you were around," Sylveon supplied.

"Well, you came onto the team at some point during Blue Moon's… time with me," Lucario corrected. "So it was during your time here—partially, at least."

"Huh." Zangoose tilted his head. "Strange. I've never heard of this 'Blue Moon' before."

"Well, see…" Sylveon trailed off. She shot Lucario a slightly concerned look.

Lucario felt a dim spark of frustration heat his chest. Narrowing his eyes, he shook his head.

A sigh escaped Sylveon's lips. Turning back to Zangoose, she continued, "Blue Moon and Lucario's relationship was… very private. He spoke to Lucario and Lucario only, and in turn, Lucario rarely spoke about him."

"What she's saying is," Bayushki interjected, "since Luke never mentioned him and the rest of us knew next to nothing about the guy, we basically figured there was no need to tell you."

The cat ferret nodded. "Makes sense."

Lucario scarfed down the last of his Tynamo. "That was a nice meal," he said to the Trainer who had been awkwardly observing the conversation he couldn't understand. The aura wolf bowed his head. "Thank you, Master."

His Trainer recognized the meaning of the bow and nodded with a smile. "No problem, Lucario!"

Pushing his seat back, the blue canine looked over at his mate. She'd finished as well, the seasoning Ryan had added flecked upon the ribbons that Sylveon had used in place of her paws.

"I'll be right back," Lucario told his family. Standing up and pushing past the table, he made his way over to where his kids sat.

"Have you kids finished your meals?" Lucario asked. Joy nodded, while Blue Moon let out an affirmative "Mhm!" Both their plates were cleared.

"Good. Hey, everyone!"

"Yeah?" Delphox called back.

"I'm going to clean up my end of the table, then I'm taking my kids back outside."

"Oh, don't worry about that. I'll get it for you."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, well, I appreciate it!"

"It's nothing!"

Lucario looked down at his children. "Let's get your messes cleaned up, too."

One brief handwashing in which Lucario hoisted both his children and his mate within grasp of the high-reaching sink later, the aura wolf and his family were headed back outside, Joy and Blue locked in a slightly one-sided conversation in which the Riolu kept babbling in response to Joy's short, exasperated replies.

"Can you believe Dad bled his own aura?"

"That's gross."

"It is! Oh, wait! I wonder what Amélie's Zangoose thinks of our Zangoose?"

"They probably haven't even met."

"Do you think he and Auntie Bayu ever made up?"

"I dunno."

"I mean, ours and Auntie seem really smoochy, so I guess not."

"Probably."

"Alright, settle down," Lucario ordered, coming to a halt in a shady area underneath a tree. The sun was hanging at a high angle in the afternoon sky, beating the world below with rays, making the normally frigid Kalosian climate almost downright hot.

"So, where did we leave off?" Lucario asked. "Do you kids remember?"

"You got your butt kicked!" exclaimed Blue Moon.

Lucario rolled his eyes with a snort. "Hey, I put up a good fight! But yes, last we left off, I'd just realized I was bleeding my own aura! And what happened next was…"


End file.
